All But A Fairy Tale
by SpadePirates
Summary: A legacy left behind by Fairy Tail's Yellow Flash discovers his demonic heritage with the help of the new Kyuubi, posing as mages in Fairy Tail, plotting to overthrow the ruler of his race, but to do so, he must form his personal army.. not an easy task!
1. Prologue

_Once upon a time, no, scratch that, from the beginning of time, the world has been reigned by two different races: demons and humans (too bad, not angels). Having been peacefully coexisting with each other, nothing short of war occurred between the two races. However, it was on that one fateful night that the first war began. _

_Truth has never been an object to be found easily, but what was hypothesized is that a human trespassed into demon territory and slaughtered almost the whole pack of kitsune, an action thought to be have been nothing but intimidation to the leader, an S-rank kitsune demon, the Kyuubi no Kitsune._

_Clouded by revenge, he went berserk and attacked the town of Konoha. Then one particular man stepped up from the guild of Fairy Tail and performed a long series of hand seals before sealing the fox into a newborn. He was never heard of again, but it was said that he left a legacy, not known to many, his name is Naruto._

* * *

Makarov had just witnessed the most terrifying scene of his life, as with everyone else, the Kyuubi had attacked Konoha out of the blues and caused chaos and destruction en masse. He was getting desperate, none of his tricks seem to be able to even hurt the Kyuubi the slightest bit. He suddenly felt that he didn't deserve the title of one of the ten Wizard Saints, the townfolks were suffering even more as time passes. Charging up another round of Fairy Law with a determined look on his face, he knew he had to stop the Kyuubi at all cost.

That was when he stepped in, he who became known as the youngest of the Ten Wizard Saints, the blonde who was always cheerful and enjoyed himself as much as everyone did in the guild. Namikaze Minato, S-rank mage by the age of 16, and was became a fellow Wizard Saint himself by the age of 21. Said person currently had a serious expression, which was rare.

"I know a way to stop it, Makarov." Minato said sternly.

A smile slowly formed on his Makarov's face, he knew Minato surpassed him, just no clue regarding how much. Then he noticed the small infant that Minato was carrying.

"Is that..."

"Yes, my son. Kushina and my son."

"Ah, so you actually took my advice and went out with her, how's she doing? Does she have any clue as to why her.. colleague would attack us?"

"Her body's in critical condition now, there were some problems during Naruto's birth. She's still alive, but I don't think she'll last much longer."

"But isn't she.."

"I don't know! I don't fucking know!" Minato couldn't hold it any longer, his wife was within shinigami's grasp and worse still, the only method to stop the Kyuubi was to seal him into a newborn, who he had no choice but to pick Naruto, his own son. A mutter of apology was heard from Makarov after that.

It was then that he voiced his solution, "I'm going to seal it, seal the Kyuubi into my own son, please take good care of him, for this will be my last and best sealing magic you will ever see."

"Wait, what do you mean?"

Then the door opened and out came Kushina, who was stumbling towards Minato.

"Kushina, you have to rest."

"No! I will not sit and watch you offer yourself to shinigami."

"It's the only way!"

"Then let me accompany you, what did you promise me 10 years ago, on that one mission you met me?"

Minato smiled, he recalled that one thing he said to the woman he loved on first sight, _"I'll never leave you alone, we would always stay together, until the end of the world, or until death claims us."_

"You put aside the difference between us and see me for who I am, not for what I am. That, is what I loved in you, so please let me help you, let me help you finish this last act of honor."

"Of course." he then turned to Makarov, "I'm gonna have to count on you to take care of little Naruto here from now on, and please be careful not to reveal to anyone what he is, just like how you promised about Mira-chan." Makarov nodded without hesitation, it was his last wish after all.

Minato glanced upwards at the Kyuubi, "I'm sorry pal, but you made me do this." His hand started going through those hand seals he was famous for and time around the both of them stopped. A seal was slowly projected, from which a hideous creature appeared.

"Yes, more food for me!" It cried out loud before being yanked back into the portal Minato opened. Shortly after, a young man who appeared to be in his 20s came out. His whole body was dressed in black and his hair was rather jagged. "Stupid retarded dog." he muttered.

"Hoho, a human, no, you're not a human, a half demon in fact has summoned me. You must have a death wish then." the man smirked.

"I do, but you'll have to honor me two wishes."

"And why is that?"

"Because before you stand two brave souls offering themselves to you."

"I see, what a lovely couple. What is it that shall be your last wishes?"

"Seal the fox into my son Naruto without killing both of them and..." Minato looked towards Kushina, who then answered, "Leave a fraction of our soul within his mind so that we can help him when there is a need to."

"Would that be it?"

"Consider it done. Any last words?"

"I love you, Kushina."

"Forever and always, Minato."

Sharing one last kiss, time resumed while they laid on the ground dead, in each other's embrace. Before Makarov knew it, the fox was gone, as if it vanished into thin air. There on the ground in front of him laid both Minato and Kushina while beside them was a crying little Naruto who had a complicated looking seal on his stomach.

"I will honor your last wish, Minato-kun." Makarov carried the infant and walked back into the guild with sorrow evident on his face.

That was Makarov's part of the story regarding the sealing of the Kyuubi. Now all that's left would be to raise the newborn who apparently stopped crying after that.

**A/N: So this is another story that I've been having in my head for a long time now. I have read many stories which gave me the inspiration to write this story, hope this one will be another different story to you readers.**

**PM or review to suggest some pairings. It will be taken into consideration, though I wish to avoid making this a harem fic.  
**


	2. Chapter 1

4 years later

Naruto was no longer a little child, he was a grown up already, he wasn't that little baby who couldn't walk, run or even talk. Or so he thought.

"Hey, Macao! Take me with you on your mission!" he demanded.

"Now now, little Naruto. You may be Minato's kid, but look at you, you're still so young and your magic has not even developed yet. You could get yourself killed." Macao replied while trying his best to resolve the situation.

"I am old enough to defend myself." he stated.

Macao sighed and shook his head, there was no other way now, he had to do this. "Naruto! If you can hit me even once before I hit you, you can come with me."

"That's the spirit." Naruto grinned and punched his right fist towards his left palm.

Without thinking for another second, he rushed to Macao.

"Naruto, you shouldn't rush head on towards your opponents like that." Macao lectured.

"I don't care." With arrogance evident in his voice, he was about to hit Macao's left thigh when he was slapped lightly on the back. A series of laughter followed and Macao declared his victory.

"Like I said, you're going to have to stay in the guild now."

"Why? Why does nobody respect me for who I am?" Naruto did his best to hold back his tears, but it was clear that he was failing miserably. Macao merely had a deadpan look on his face. He didn't know how to handle kids, he haven't even thought of getting laid with his girlfriend yet!

"Look, I'm... ah, sorry." Macao apologized but somehow Naruto was not convinced. "Damn you!" he shouted and ran back towards the guild.

"Why does this have to happen?" Macao sighed, then he noticed the language Naruto used earlier. "Looks like 'damn' is going to be replaced by 'fuck' in a few year's time. Too much influence in the guild." Again, he sighed, and left for his mission.

* * *

"Old man! Teach me magic!" Naruto demanded upon entering Makarov's office.

"Naruto, how many times do I have to tell you..."

"My magic energy hasn't developed yet? Then help me to develop it!"

"Magic energy develops as you age, it is a natural force that cannot be attained with brute force. But I'm sure you will have it in a few year's time." Makarov smiled with reassurance.

"But I can still you use physical stuff right?"

Makarov blinked, and blinked again. "That is brilliant, if you can surprise us with any physical weapons, then you will be allowed to take your very own first job request."

"Is that a promise?"

"A promise it is." Makarov smiled, he would really like to see what this boy, Minato's little boy, can produce.

* * *

So Naruto paced back and forth in the courtyard of his house. It was left to him by his father, Namikaze Minato. From what he heard from his master and the other guild members, his father was a brilliant yet powerful man, who was the youngest person ever to be called one of the Ten Wizard Saints. He aspired to be like his father, to be respected, to be admired, and of course to be feared by enemies.

But there was just this one little problem which he couldn't help, most of the townfolks hate him, despised him for no apparent reason. He never even met these people before and yet they glared at him with hostile intentions.

Some of them would even scold him, insult him. Demon brat, scum, flawed material and many more. It was all the more reason for him to achieve his goal, that is to replace his father among the Ten Wizard Saints at the same age his father did, if not, earlier. Once he done so, he would be respected and admired just like his father was. If only that was true.

_"if you can surprise us with any physical weapons, then you will be allowed to take your very own first job request." _That was his current goal now though. But with his lack of experience, his goal would not be achieved any time soon, after all being just 4 years old, how much could you possibly know about weapons?

If you think he doesn't know much, you're probably right. But he did know the weapons the other guild members usually carry around, there are knives, magic and swords. Wait, magic doesn't count, knife is a little too blunt, so that means... "The only weapon I know of is... a sword!" he grabbed his hair in frustration and shook his hard.

"I can't even grip a sword, how am I suppose to use a weapon then?" Looking down at those small hands of his, he wondered if he could even grip a small version of a sword. Perhaps if he could attach a device to his hand which could help him grip the weapon, then he would be able to use it with ease. Congratulating himself for such a brilliant idea, he took out a paper to craft his blueprint.

Then as he doodled out what he thought should be the device, he suddenly wondered where should he insert the element of surprise? After all, if you go out for a job with this weapon ready, wouldn't you have a mini sword jutting out from your sleeve? That would be inconvenient, worse still, you can't take it off for you never know when an enemy may approach.

"Shit, this is even more difficult than I thought." Again, his lack of experience was a major problem. He laid down on his bed, and soon drifted off to sleep.

* * *

_Drip._

_Drip._

_Drip._

That was all he heard. "Shit! My roof is leaking!" Naruto jumped up and found himself wet. He went to get a change of clothes and went out of his house. Something was not right, there was a massive cage right in front of his house!

"Where the hell did this come from!" Naruto asked in utter shock.

In the cage was a huge fox with.. nine tails? "What kind of fox have nine tails you monster!"

**"Oh finally a subconscious..."** the fox lowered its head and realized this was no subconscious, this blonde was the owner of this mind scape!

**"Ah, the jailer comes to visit his prisoner."**

"What.. the.. fuck.. is.. going... on? he spoke slowly, afraid of what he had no idea of.

The fox stared down in amusement. **"My, my, at the age of four, you sure have one hell of vocabulary."**

"Are you going to tell me or not?"

**"This, boy, is your mind. In other words, my prison."**

"Who are you?"

The fox hollered out a series of laughter before looking down again. **"You will do well to remember me, boy. I am the Kyuubi no Kitsune, SSS-rank Kitsune demon and the leader..."** he suddenly stopped, if he was sealed, then his daughter must have been forced to be take over his position as the leader of the pack.

"Any other title you wanna boast?"

**"I ain't fucking boasting, boy, as I have earned myself those titles."**

Naruto was scared, the fox was serious and what he said alone made him feel like running away instantly.

'S-rank? That would mean he could solve my problem.' Naruto thought.

**"What is it that you want then?"**

"Listen, I err... need..."

**"Of course, you want my help, why else would you be here? I have a price though."**

"Name it."

**"A vial of your precious blood."**

"Yucks! Why would you want my blood?"

**"Oh, so you have no idea how many people, how many demons, would die to get their hands that precious blood of yours, do you?"** the fox asked, suddenly remembering that his parents were the one who sacrificed themselves to seal him, of course he wouldn't have any idea as to who and what he really is.

"No, am I supposed to?"

**"I can't believe I'm asking this, no, not yet, you can give me that later, as for now, speak to my daughter first."**

"How the hell am I supposed to know who's your daughter?"

**"Trust me, you'll meet her during one of your missions, and when you do, you will be able to identify her."**

"About my request..."

**"You want to have an element of surprise in that weapon you're creating."**

"How... how the hell do you know?"

**"It's written all over your subconscious, god damn it. They're constantly freaking out when they see me, trust me, I am a master mind. Literally and figuratively."**

"I don't understand what the hell are you talking about!" Naruto was clueless.

**"Oh, you want to learn about the art of illusions?"**

"What's that?"

**"That's another request you're going to have to pay for."**

"Forget about it. You haven't even answered me."

**"Come closer."** Naruto obeyed the fox and inched closer, wondering what the fox would whisper into his ear. Before he knew it, the fox extended its claw from the cage and attempted to scratch Naruto. Fortunately for him, he noticed it in time and leaped back, narrowly avoiding a scratch to his torso.

"What the fuck was that for?"

**"That would be your answer."** The claw then retract back into the cage. **"Now get back out there and craft that weapon, I'm eager to see your product."**

Naruto then felt his consciousness slip away as he returned to reality, all the while hearing the eerie laughter that he was sure came from the Kyuubi.

He went back to his desk and stared intently at his own doodle which he declared as his blueprint. The Kyuubi nearly hurt him because of his unawareness of the danger lurking within the cage. In other words, the answer he was looking for was ambush.

* * *

(2 weeks later)

"Old man, I am ready to take my first job request." Naruto declared upon entering the guild.

"I see, am I right to assume that you have found the perfect weapon for you?"

"That I do, and I have trained myself to use it well." he replied.

"Who would you like to assist you in demonstrating your weapon then?"

Naruto scanned the guild, then as his line of sight dropped on Macao, he shouted with determination, "I challenge you, Macao!"

"No, Naruto-boy, you're just asking him to assist you."

"Whatever." Naruto then walked outside, knowing well that spars are taken relatively serious and usually taking place on the outside of the guild.

Naruto had his usual cloak on, decorated by fires surrounding the bottom (Fine, its the Hokage cloak without the Kanji, I'm just borrowing the idea, everyone does that). Makarov gave it to him when he was 3 as it was one of Minato's unique items. It had the ability to shrink or expand to fit the user well, concealing whatever equipments the user could possibly be possessing at the moment.

'Though I still think that Minato used that as an excuse to just act cool.' Makarov thought silently.

"Let's see what kind of new trick you have up your sleeve." Macao snickered. He was an adult! And he was currently facing a half-matured toddler! Honestly, who wouldn't think of their guaranteed victory in such a moment? If only he knew such underestimation would lead to his loss, or not.

Naruto stood there, waiting for Makarov to announce the start of the 'demonstration'.

"Alright, start."

Makarov watched as Naruto charged head on towards Macao with an attempt to punch him right in the guts. Macao caught his cloak and lift him up, "Come on, you aren't gonna hit me with those little hands of yours." a taunt was more than enough to piss Naruto off.

"Damn you." Naruto lifted his left hand and got ready for another punch. Macao blocked it. As expected, by Naruto.

"Or are you just all talk?" another taunt came from Macao and before he knew it, his nose was millimeters away from what seemed to be a blade jutting out from Naruto's right wrist, or upon closer inspection, a device that held the blade firm under his hand.

The blade retracted as soon as it came out and before Macao realized, he was punched square in the face by Naruto's little fist.

"Oh.. my... god..." the spectators watching were startled by the result of the 'demonstration', Naruto actually managed to hit Macao, a B-ranked mage, when he himself wasn't even one!

"My, my, the Yellow Flash did leave behind a legacy after all." Makarov commented with a wide grin plastered onto his face, it would seem that Naruto grasped the element of surprise well, after all, no one did expect something short of a hidden blade to be Naruto's weapon.

"I won, old man, I'm getting my first job request right now."

"Hold on, everyone can tell it's just a prototype, you can't really used it to fight enemies."

"What, come on old man, I spent 2 full weeks thinking that up and training hard to at least get used to the weight!"

"It's extremely impressing for someone at your age to be able to think this up, you should be proud of yourself." Taking out the stamp, Makarov declared, "Alright, you are now officially a mage of Fairy Tail. Come here, where do you want your tattoo and what colour shall it be?"

Naruto walked towards Makarov and flexed his hand, showing his palm.

"Whoa! You can't be thinking of attacking me with that blade of yours now, are you?"

"Huh? I was just showing you where I wanna have my tattoo on. Oh, and I'd rather have a black one."

"Fine." Makarov accepted his own little paranoia of Naruto's blade and stamped the infamous insignia of Fairy Tail onto his palm. He was forced to pull back his hand almost instantly after he stamped as the blade was once again jutting out, eager to slice its first target.

Makarov suddenly had an eerie expression on his face, "Do not attempt that again." Naruto nodded quickly upon hearing that serious tone.

"Alright, go get your own job request then."

"Of course!" Naruto hopped eagerly towards the job request board and looked up... with disappointment.

"Why the hell is the board full of D-rank jobs!" Naruto bellowed.

**TO BE CONTINUED**

**A/N: Soooo, instead of having Naruto instantly being a power house, I was thinking of showing his growth as he made himself known in the mage world. Also, I'm still welcoming any PMs or reviews for suggestions about the pairings.**


	3. Chapter 2

It has been 5 years ever since Naruto crafted his first weapon, taking on nothing but C ranked job to D ranked job requests. He still hasn't realized why but somehow whenever he approached the board all that remained there were the easy ones, in other words, simple and boring, though there were some action occasionally, most of the time, there were barely any, hence the need to make some.

As Naruto rushed back to the guild, he was repeatedly shouting, "Old man!"

"What is it, Naruto? Everyone in the town can hear you shouting!"

"My magic energy has developed!" Naruto exclaimed with excitement. "Now will you teach me magic?"

"Hmm... Let's go to your place to discuss this further." Makarov got down from his table and walked out towards Naruto's home, with Naruto trailing behind him.

"Naruto, you will have to discover what type of magic you will be using yourself. The only thing I will be able to teach you is how to will it."

"Why? Why won't you just teach me your magic?"

"Naruto, magic differs from person to person just like one's personality with another. After you have learnt to will your magic energy, then will you be able to discover your own magic, understand?"

"Fine..." Naruto mumbled with a tad bit of disappointment.

"Now, to will your magic, the first thing you must always do is to clear your mind. Think of nothing but yourself reaching deep into yourself and grab those magic energy from within your body." Naruto watched with amusement as Makarov closed his eyes. Thinking it was rather fun to try it himself, Naruto closed his eyes intently, trying to do as Makarov said.

"Naruto, you're not doing it right. Like I said, clear your mind. Do not let other thoughts distract you."

"What's the next step then?"

"It's the one and only. The rest is up to you, depending on whatever kind of magic you will be using."

Naruto closed his eyes once more, ignoring the breeze that caressed his skin, the sound of dripping water and their breathing. Then he felt it.

"Do you feel that, old man?"

"Feel what?" Makarov was confused, perhaps this was his discovery of his own magic.

"The vibration. It's all around me. But the one you're radiating is extremely violent."

"I'm radiating?" Makarov pondered for a moment and walked a few steps back. "How about now?"

"It's getting weaker and weaker."

"Good, good." Makarov understood. "Now try to maintain control of your magic energy and open your eyes, you can't be thinking of fighting your opponents with your eyes closed in the future, are you?"

Naruto slowly opened his eyes. He saw Makarov walking towards him from afar. The vibration he felt from Makarov was getting stronger as Makarov came closer.

"It would seem that your magic energy is capable of sensing other's magic energy, its strength and distance, but you're going to have to train yourself to understand it better." Makarov deduced.

"Wow!" Naruto was amused, but not for long. "But that sucks. I want some offensive magic! I can't attack enemies just by knowing where they are like that."

"You have your knives, Naruto. Try combining your magic with your knives, the effects can be deadly."

It was true. Naruto had built himself a pair of metal vambraces which he used to store his hidden blades and knife shooting devices. Over the course of five years, he had gathered knives of different shapes and trained himself hard in order to use his weapons to their maximum efficiency. There was just one slight issue, Naruto would always come back from a mission empty-handed. He had the tendency to use moving targets as practice, in other words, animals... and humans.

"But I run out of them very quickly!"

"Then don't waste them unnecessarily. Now that you are able to will your magic energy out, you are free to invent your own personal magic. Well then, good luck."

"Wait.." Naruto called out a little too late as Makarov had hopped away from his lawn. Naruto took out a knife and wondered.

'The old man told me to combine the use of magic with knives. I have to know the limitations of my sensor magic. Naruto took a stroll

'Well, I can defend myself if my enemies are approaching me, but if my enemies are out of my range, that could be an issue. If only I could find a way to get close to them. But to do that, I need a marker, something to determine my location.'

He took out one of his knives, it had a tri-prong shape with the middle one being longer and sharper than the other two. Infusing the knife with his magic energy, Naruto threw the knife towards one of his training dummies. He could feel the vibration radiating from his own magical energy on the kunai. With blinding speed, he rushed towards the knife along the waves of vibration and... smashed himself into the dummy.

"Ouch, that freaking hurt!"

* * *

"Damn it, I'm not trying that ever again." Naruto declared to himself as he entered the guild. His whole body was full of bruises and injuries evident. Yet he still walked towards the job request board as if nothing happened. Looking through all the D-rank notices, he found one hidden beneath.

"Retrieve the jewel? Look at that, the reward is 1,000,000 jewels! This is just easy money!"

_Details: A priceless jewel has been stolen by a parakeet and it was seen flying to the forest east of Konoha. When found, return to the Heartfilia mansion.  
_

"Wow, that's awfully close!" Naruto realized and made off to the forest where the parakeet was supposedly seen.

The view from outside wasn't pleasing to him, he could tell that danger lurks within the forest. He was shaking uncontrollably, he didn't know why, but he felt excited.

"Finally some action!" Naruto exclaimed and rushed straight into the forest, not the slightest bit worried that he was putting his life on the line. He was constantly sensing his surroundings for the life energy within the parakeet, though the other animals' life energy were constantly distracting him.

Then, he felt something, no, a herd of wild animals, approaching him quickly. The vibration was getting stronger with every moment that passed. Diving behind a large tree, he watched as the massive stampede of animals rushed by the tree he was hiding behind, narrowly trampling him to death.

"What the hell? The first thing that greets me in the forest are animals trying to kill me?"

Feeling for any life energy, he realized that the stampede a moment ago probably was all the animals that lived in the forest. There wasn't the slightest bit of vibration that he could feel, at first.

In fact, as he went deeper into the forest, he could feel a small amount of vibration radiating from nearby. Closely following the vibration, it turned out that there was a cliff at the edge of the forest and the parakeet is flying around at the other side of the cliff. The jewel it was holding on to was safe in its mouth.

Naruto pleaded very hard in his hard that the parakeet wouldn't let go of the jewel, or this rare opportunity to be a millionaire would be gone. He didn't dare throw any of his knives at the parakeet in fear that it might drop all the way down the cliff when it died. He did the only thing he could: observe.

'What happened a moment ago? Why would all the animals just rush out of the forest suddenly?' he suddenly thought of. 'What's with this strong vibration?'

Feeling that an immensely power creature was approaching him quickly, Naruto was got up and was about to turn when the sheer amount of killer intent stunned him. He was sweating madly, praying hard that whatever creature behind him would divert its attention to the parakeet.

**"Fool, what is a mere human like you... I see, you're not human..."** The deep voice which he assumed belonged to the creature was heard very clearly.

Hearing that, Naruto slowly turned his head towards the creature. It was a dragon, a black one, with sinister slitted eyes.

"I... beg... your pardon?" With a serious expression on, he then took out one of his tri-prong knife and aimed it towards the dragon's head. If he wasn't human, what could he possibly be? A demon? Deciding that he would force the truth out of the dragon if he had to, he mustered his courage and threatened it instead.

"Tell me everything I wish to know, or I swear that I would kill you." The dragon flinched slightly, realizing that the _boy _in front of him was dead serious. But he would be shocked even more if the boy could hurt him. After all, those thick scales of his wasn't there for reflect his beauty.

**"That is if you can..."** The dragon smirked.

Naruto knew charging head on to attack the dragon wouldn't attack it, he would need a strategy, which was why he took out that tri-prong knife of his, ready to bet on his life upon the success of the new technique he just founded.

The dragon was amused, the little boy in front of him was not the slightest bit afraid, instead the boy was preparing to attack him. He then felt a slight tickle on the top of his head and the next thing he saw was a yellow flash. Then, the boy was gone, but he felt something hanging onto his left horn.

"That was a close one..." Naruto muttered to himself, trying to climb onto the top of the dragon's head from his horn.

**"Ah... You remind me so much of that bastard of Yellow Flash, or could you be his son? He managed to scratch me once, leaving a scar on my torso. In fact, he was the only one who have ever done so. "**

Naruto widened his eyes then smirked, "If my father could land a hit on you, I can."

**"But you should know that he left with one broken arm, four broken ribs and a fractured left thigh."**

Naruto had to risk, quickly leaping onto the dragon's nose. "Speak, now."

**"What do I get in return?"**

"Your life spared." Naruto was ready to incapacitate the dragon's eye. Then, as quickly as he appeared on the dragon, he was suddenly suspended in mid-air, being held by what seemed to be hands made entirely of shadows.

**"You have no idea what you're dealing with."**

Naruto raised up his palm and extended the hidden blade, however, the hands did not seem to be damaged at all but rather the blade went right through the shadows.

**"Did you really think you could injure my shadows?"** The feeling of helplessness was quickly returning, Naruto began to realize that this fight was completely one-sided. He would never be able to land a hit like his father did.

"I will die fighting like my father did then." Naruto knew those were empty words, he could barely hurt the dragon. It was more likely that he would die because he was being killed by a powerful dragon.

**"Big words for a small child. Hmm..."** The dragon examined him carefully and spoke again, **"You interest me, boy. Tell you what, I will take you in and teach you the arts of dragon slaying. Then, maybe you can try killing me another time."**

"Why would you go so far as to teach me how to kill you?"

**"Like I said, you interest me, boy."**

"Very well, I accept." Naruto accepted without a second thought, it wasn't everyday that you're given an opportunity to learn under a creature with immense power.

**"Then off we go. Hold on tight."** The dragon replied and put Naruto on his back.

"Wait, don't I get to say goodbyes to my guild members?"

**"There isn't a need for that, after all, you will be seeing them again in a few year's time."** The dragon then took off at the speed rivaling Naruto's unnamed 'teleportation' technique.

* * *

(Fairy Tail Guild)

"Have you seen Naruto?" Makarov asked the guild members one by one. He was worried, Naruto usually did more than a few jobs in a day, those D ranked ones were no challenge to him after all. But today he was taking unusually long to complete his first mission of the day. Perhaps there was just a slight delay.

* * *

(Black Dragon's Mountain)

**"Welcome to the my lair, more commonly known as the Black Dragon's Mountain."** The dragon then placed Naruto down on a large rock in a valley before walking back slowly into its cave.

**"Rest for now, we will begin tomorrow." **

After throwing up quite a few times, Naruto sat down and looked back into the cave which the dragon just entered. The flight experience he just had while coming here reminded him so much of that technique he founded.

"Perhaps I've found a name for this technique." Naruto smiled and threw another tri-prong knife infused with magic towards the opposite end of the valley he was in. "Black Dragon's Flight." Naruto said and off he went... crashing into other side. His knife was half an inch below his crotch.

"Shit, I need a lot more practice for this one." Then, he went unconscious.

* * *

When Naruto woke up again, he still felt that strong vibration radiating. But when he turned his head, there was no black dragon, merely a nine tailed fox in a cage.

"This must be our... second meeting. I still don't get who you really are or how did you end up in me?"

**"That is not my question to answer. Instead, redirect that question of yours to my daughter."**

"I've waited for five years! Find your daughter, argh, this is getting frustrating..." Naruto grabbed his hair and fell backward onto the grass.

**"No matter, that can still wait. As for why I called you here this time, you really are one hell of a boy to garner the attention of the black dragon huh? It is known to be one of the few SS rank demons out there."**

"Well, how many 'S' can one achieve?" Naruto was getting sick of the number of 'S' that was always appearing in front.

**"As of now, only one demon has ever achieved three, and that's me, though I believe that there is potential for four. Of course, that would mean the bounty would exceed even a trillion jewels. That's a hell lot..."** The Kyuubi wondered off.

"Look, I know you dream of being one of those quadruple S demons, sorry, the ONLY quadruple S demons, but I'm gonna have to ask you about that dragon."

**"Of course, you're curious. You're curious about why a demon of such caliber would agree to train a low ranking one such as yourself?"**

"Are you implying that I am a demon?" Naruto narrowed his eyes, the words of the dragon still lingering within his head. _'You're not a human...'_

**"Assumptions made by one self should be opened by the eyes of another. Like I said, seek my daughter."**

"You really miss your daughter a lot, don't you? Serve you right for..."

BANG!

The sound of the Kyuubi's paw hitting the side of the cage was loud enough to cause a tremor within his mind. **"Watch your mouth brat, those with truth blinded shouldn't make such assumptions."**

"Yeah, yeah, and you're some wise old fox who's just trying lecture a little boy. So what, you haven't even answered my question."

**"You already know the answer to that one."** The fox calmed down as sudden as it became angry.

_"Like I said, you interest me, boy." _Naruto recalled what the dragon told him. "If I interest him, it could mean that I'm some appealing dinner to him!"

The fox lowered his head and examined the boy closely, **"That one is definitely not true. You're not the slightest bit appealing!"**

Naruto had to endure the laughter made by the fox, somehow it seemed to echo throughout the mind scape. "Then what?"

**"Kid, I hate to admit this, but you've got potential. A fucking lot of potential. You made yourself a weapon at the age of four, can throw knives with deadly accuracy at the age of six and you've invented another device to shoot knives. Even you impress me."**

"You know this, but the dragon doesn't. How does he..."

**"Your affinity to darkness is what peaked its interest. That, and the fact that you aren't human." **The fox widened its smirk.

"So I'm a demon huh? Well, I don't see nothing different from myself compared to the other guild members."

**"That's because I've been concealing it. And no, you're gonna have to find out the truth from..."**

"Your daughter."

**"Yes, but with this, I offer you another opportunity to learn another field of magic. The art of illusions."**

"If I recall correctly, you want something in return."

**"A vial of blood, like before."**

"Again? Why would you want my blood for?"

**"Your blood is vital for me to allow access to your mind so that I can teach you properly. And, shall I remind you, that your previous debt has not been cleared?"**

"Yeah, yeah, I know, you've been bugging me all this time about it. But how will my blood help?"

**"Once I consume that blood of yours, your subconscious will recognize me as a part of it, thus freeing me from this fucked up cage."**

"But doesn't that mean you're free from me?"

**"Not from your body, I'll only be free to roam within your mind."**

"Alright. How the hell am I suppose to give you my blood?"

**"Imagine that you are holding a vial in your hand, then materialize it."**

"O... kay..." Naruto tried and miraculously, it worked. Biting his finger, he then dripped them into the vial and fill it up. "How do I know you aren't lying to me?"

**"You don't. You're just gonna have to take a leap of faith, don't you?"** The fox smirked.

"Fine." Naruto said and threw the bottle towards the cage. The Kyuubi caught it with his paw and swallowed the whole vial.

The cage was suddenly gone and the Kyuubi was free, but only in Naruto's mind. However, Naruto had to dive to his right as dozens of arrows were suddenly launched towards him. He sprinted backward when he saw grenades dropping from the sky.

"Fuck you, Kyuubi!" Naruto cursed as he continued sprinting from the rain of bullets and grenades. He suddenly tripped over himself and was cornered. The attack suddenly halted as sudden as it began.

**"Lesson Number Zero: Never trust a demon you are not familiar with."**

"I know that very well. " Naruto smirked. "Lesson Number Zero Point One: A demon can never go against a promise made."

**"Heh, you've got some brains after all. But I never said I wouldn't kill you after I'm done teaching you."**

"Who's gonna find your daughter then?"

**"I can find her myself."**

"You don't know how the seal works."

**"Neither do you."**

"So I advice you not to try anything." Naruto smirked, he had won an argument against the fox, but he was sure he heard the fox muttering, "Fucking blondes."

* * *

(Two years later - 11th July, X 777)

"Damn it man, today sure is our lucky day." A thief expressed his joy after robbing, his hands full of jewelries.

"Yup, that mansion sure has security as tight as shit." The two of them then laughed. They stopped but another laughter resumed next to them.

"Wait, we have three members?" They both turned their head and saw a blonde siting right next to them, his face horribly disfigured.

"AHHHHHH!" They both screamed and noticed that the horribly disfigured blonde was no longer there.

"What was that?"

Then a voice from nowhere echoed, "Tonight you should be honored to be taught the basic type of illusions you will ever see in this world. D rank illusion, and the easiest to be dispelled, one that messes with your five senses, as you've just seen.. and heard.

"Who... who's... there?"

"Show yourself!" Both robbers were trembling in fear. Suddenly, one of them felt extreme pain on his right thigh. Looking down, he noticed a dozen of knives were stabbed into his thigh.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" He screamed even louder.

"What? What's wrong?" The first robber gripped his thigh as if it was being mutilated, making the second wonder what was happening.

"This is a C rank illusion, one that is registered within your mind, tough to dispel and the only way to dispel it is to remove it directly from your mind. But, what you're about to experience is a B rank one, one that is developed based on your most horrifying memories, thereby making you feel as if what you're seeing is reality. Oh, and the only way that it can be removed, is... I'm lazy to explain, you idiots wouldn't understand it anyway." The voice echoed again. This time it sent shivers down the second robber's spine.

'Who is this person? Is he some of those rumored demons to exist?' he wondered involuntarily. He had seen one before and it was a near death experience. Ever since then, he was extremely afraid of them. Then, out of nowhere, the demon he had seen and feared in his childhood jumped out of the bushes and munched on his right arm. A shriek followed.

The first robber suddenly found the knives on his thigh gone, and out of nowhere, a blonde with spiky hair grinned at him. "Take good care of him. He's probably gonna be in a coma for a few days after this. He should be lucky it's just a B ranked one, not an A or S ranked one. Hehehe..."

"Who... are... you? And... what... did you... do.. to my friend?" The first robber said, he could still feel the reminiscent pain from the 'second class illusion' the blonde in front of him called.

"Friend? Guess what? He was planning to kill you and take all the jewel for himself."

"What..." The robber went speechless.

"As for who am I? I'll leave it as a souvenir to the both of you. See this?" The blonde raised his palm, showing the black Fairy Tail stamp of his. "This is a insignia of the Fairy Tail guild, somewhere far south of here, in the town of Konoha, Magnolia district. Then a blade suddenly jutted out from below his wrist until it was an inch away from his face.

"This one's real." he said and stabbed both their right thigh with his blade. It was then that the robber realized who he was. Recently, there were news originating from the north that someone dubbed as 'The Assassin', 'Silent Demon' and other names, had stopped many criminal acts with just a single stab. The person also used the blood from the wound to imprint the insignia of the guild Fairy Tail on any part of the criminals' body.

"You... You must be the one they call 'The Assassin', huh?"

The blonde looked up in thought then looked down and smiled, "Make it The Assassin Naruto."

* * *

(Fairy Tail)

"Master, there is more news about this mysterious figure they call The Assassin." Macao rushed into the master's office with a smile.

"Is it about the criminal acts that he stopped? I will not allow this if he is not an actual member of Fairy Tail. What is this person thinking? Using the honorable Fairy Tail guild's name to perform such acts? What if he..." However, Makarov did not seem any happy whenever there is news about this person.

"Master!"

"What is it?"

"Recently there was another title that went around. Its 'The Assassin Naruto'.

"What?" Makarov's widened his eyes.

* * *

(With Naruto)

"Damn, building a reputation is easier than I thought." Naruto mumbled as he sat in the bar, drinking white liquid from a bottle. The tag on the bottle had one big word: Milk. (**A/N: What were you thinking?**)

"The neighbourhood sure has lesser crimes recently with the appearance of The Assassin. No one knows anything else about him besides his last name."

"Yep, but isn't Fairy Tail a guild far south over here? Why is a Fairy Tail member taking jobs that are so far away from their turf?"

"I don't really know. But have you heard of the way he cripples his enemies?"

"Yeah, swift and quick, just like an assassin."

"But wouldn't that title attract people who offer assassination missions?"

"Fairy Tail is not a dark guild. This Naruto person wouldn't just take on missions like that."

Naruto sat silently and drank his milk, listening to others gossiping about his deeds. Then, suddenly the table was smashed and whoever did it suddenly breathed out fire, scaring the bar's customers.

"Who is this person? Where is he?" A boy with rose pink hair who looked no older than 10 continued breathing out fire, demanding answers recklessly.

Looking at the damage being done, Naruto promptly stood up and approached the boy.

"What's your name, boy?"

"Natsu Dragneel, remember that. Now who are you? You can't be that much older than me. I'm sure I can beat you down." the boy said with arrogance in his voice.

"I'm the one you're looking for. The Assassin." Naruto answered. "Now let's get out of here before this place becomes a mess."

"You are? Then fight me." The boy's expression quickly became an excited one and followed Naruto outside.

"Natsu, look up." Natsu did and he saw fairies flying towards the south.

"What the..." Before Natsu could finish, he was already knocked out by Naruto.

"You've got some talent..." Having been into Natsu's mind, he learned most of Natsu's capabilities and dreams, but he still required more training. "Alright, I'm bringing you back to Fairy Tail."

* * *

(2 days later in the evening)

"Hey, Naruto, you owe me another fight." Natsu stated. "You cheated in the previous one, I want a rematch!"

"How about you roast this deer with that dragon slaying magic of yours?" Naruto smiled after placing the deer he just caught in the forest down.

"How did you..." Natsu was shocked.

"I can identify your capabilities with my magic."

"That's a rather handy one." Natsu then looked down at the deer. "Flame Dragon's Breath!"

In a matter of seconds, the deer was roasted by the stream of fire coming out from Natsu's mouth and Naruto chopped it into half, taking one part for himself, leaving another for Natsu.

"Tell me about this Fairy Tail guild."

Naruto blinked, did Natsu just started a normal conversation? That was a first. "Well, before I left, it was a quiet one, but we interact with each other a lot, that's probably the only thing that keeps us together. But I'm sure the guild is gonna be rowdy soon with additions of people like you."

"What? Are you saying I'm rowdy? Damn it, I'm having a rematch now."

"Flame Dragon's Roar!" A blast of fire was directed towards Naruto who somehow summoned a wall from the ground. As soon as the fire dissipated, the wall was gone.

"Black Dragon's Scales!" Naruto called out and his skin instantly hardened and was replaced by black scales. Natsu stared in awe as his fire was unable to penetrate through Naruto's 'scales'.

"What? You know dragon slayer magic? That means you're a dragon slayer!" Natsu pointed out.

"Well, I'm actually half dragon slayer." Naruto smiled. Natsu merely sweat dropped and asked, "What do you mean?"

"I haven't finished learning when the dragon left on 7th July, the date your dragon supposedly left."

"Did he say anything about where he would be going? Did he mention a dragon by the name of Igneel?" Natsu was eager to find out any possible clue that could lead him to Igneel, his foster father.

"Nope, I'm sorry. We weren't on really good terms, unlike the relationship you shared with Igneel." By the time Naruto finished, Natsu's face was already flowing with tears. "Err... I'm really sorry about Igneel's disappearance."

"You don't understand!" Natsu then ran off down the road towards south.

"And I was planning to reach by tomorrow morning." Naruto then got up and sprinted down the road, chasing after Natsu.

They reached as soon as night fall, but Naruto knew well Fairy Tail was currently empty.

"Ah, it's been a long time..." Naruto recalled his past as a child when he spent his whole day doing dozens of D ranked job requests. Now he was sure the old man would allow him to take the A rank ones. "Natsu, would you like to spend the night at my place?" Naruto offered.

"Yeah.. thanks." Natsu accepted with reluctance. Naruto looked at him and smiled, Natsu reminded him so much of his rebellious younger self who was eager to show his strength. But now he changed, he had grown up, and was not the immature brat from before.

**"My ass."** The Kyuubi interrupted.

"Oh, shut up."

* * *

(Next morning)

The main entrance to the guild was forcefully kicked opened by one Namikaze Naruto, behind was Natsu, who was in awe by the building's unique structure.

"Heya guys, I'm back!" Naruto called out loud

Everyone stared and blinked, making sure that this was no illusion.

"Naruto! We thought you were dead!"

"That's right! You were gone for two years!"

"It's always possible to die in a mission, you know!"

Naruto sweat dropped at his fellow guild members' faith in him, did they think he would just die off that easily?

"Come on, let's go meet the guild master." Naruto gestured for Natsu to follow. As he made his way there, he noticed a few new faces. There was a young girl with red hair around the same age as him strolling in the guild, around the job request board. Another brunette with her hair tied into a ponytail was currently shouting, "Your clothes!" towards another black haired boy who was half naked. Apparently, he just realized that his shirt was gone. Both of them seemed to be around the same age as Natsu.

"You stole my shirt didn't you, baka Cana?" The boy shouted.

"Why would I want your shirt, bastard Gray?" The girl replied.

Having learned both their names in their argument but not the red haired girl, he decided to approach her later, not noticing Natsu had gone off towards Gray.

Naruto turned his head, having just noticed Natsu was gone. Turning his head again, he saw the one called Gray summoning shards of ice to attack Natsu while Natsu himself seemed to be charging another blast of fire.

"NATSU!" Naruto shouted and the fight halted immediately.

* * *

(Guild Master's office)

"So mind telling me where have you been these two years, Naruto?" Makarov glared at him with killer intent evident while he spoke.

"Err... well... I've been on a mission. See?" Naruto then took out the notice he last picked before leaving Fairy Tail, the one that requested him to search for a jewel, which he did. It somehow ended up in the black dragon's cave and he found it after the dragon miraculously left. "Well... 1,000,000 jewels in 2 years. Though the jewels per day rate may be a little low, but it's still worth it, considering that meal costs were already covered..." Naruto thought for a moment.

Makarov slammed the table hard with his stick and repeated, "Mind telling me where have you been these two years, Naruto?"

"Erm... on a mission?"

"Don't mess with me. You think news of your deeds haven't been passed down from the north. They've been calling you 'The Assassin', 'The Silent Killer', 'The Silent Demon', and whatever names that I couldn't remember!"

"The mission took me there?" Naruto tried to talk his way out of explaining, but he knew this would end in vain.

"So how is it that the mission took you there? I didn't think someone with your experience would search for a jewel all the way to the north."

Natsu watched as Naruto and Makarov went on...'discussing' about this mission that Naruto went on for a long period when he could do it just a small amount of time.

"What have you really been doing, Naruto?"

"Training." He quickly answered.

"Under?"

This time, Naruto slammed the table, "What aren't you telling me, old man?"

But this served to agitate Makarov further. "Answer my question."

"How is it that an enormous nine tailed fox is in my mind and you didn't know about it?"

"Well..." Makarov went speechless for a moment but suddenly the whole guild was in fire, in fact, it was the guild's condition when the Kyuubi attacked 11 years ago. To Natsu, the guild master's expression suddenly became a horrified one, as if he had just witnessed a terrifying scene, well, as a matter of fact, he did.

"So, the fox attacked Konoha when I was just born huh?" Makarov immediately realized the magic he was being cast upon through his years of experience. It was an illusion magic which made him relive his memories.

"Get... out.. of... my mind!" Makarov ordered with a serious expression and the next moment, the guild was back to normal.

"Not bad, old man, you know very well it's a B rank illusion. Does that answer your question?" Naruto asked.

"Does that?" Makarov asked back, still panting from the memory he momentarily relived.

"I see, we have a mutual understanding then." Naruto suddenly smiled, silently glad that he didn't have to tell the old man all that he had learned, especially the part where he learned dragon slaying magic from the black dragon. Quickly changing the topic, he pat Natsu on the back. "This boy is Natsu. He's here to join the guild."

For a moment there, Natsu thought that the guild master was a scary person, but just after the conversation with Naruto, he was smiling already and was shaking his hands.

"Mind telling me your magic, young one?"

"I'm an expert in dragon slaying!" The boy declared proudly.

"Ah... a dragon slayer, just like someone here..." Makarov suddenly looked up towards Naruto, who was stunned by Makarov's discovery of his primary offensive magic.

"Fine, but I'm only half, the dragon haven't taught me everything, so I'm gonna have to discover the remaining magic myself." Naruto wondered off.

"I may be old, but I know what kind of magic radiates what kind of energy." Makarov finished and asked Natsu, "Where would you like guild stamp and what would you like your colour to be?"

"A red one on the top of my right arm."

* * *

Naruto walked out of the office, deciding to take a rest for the day and resume doing mission the next day. But as he was walking out, he noticed the red head seemed really lonely. She was sitting all by herself on a bench, instead of doing a job.

"Could you by any chance be a new member?" Naruto asked the girl.

The girl was rather shy, she turned her head away for a moment and quietly answered, "Yes... I was told that Fairy Tail could provide me with a better future. I just arrived few weeks ago."

"Weren't you planning to go on a job a moment ago?"

"None of them... interests me."

"I see, I'm Namikaze Naruto, and you are..." Naruto extended his hand but somehow Erza was reluctant to accept it.

"Erza Scarlet."

"That's a beautiful name, just like your hair." he smiled.

Erza's eyes widened and she blushed at the comment. He reminded her so much of Jellal, so much of the misunderstanding that they both went through, that she couldn't take it anymore.

"Ba...Baka!" He hit him hard in the head and rushed out of the guild.

"What was that for?" Naruto wondered.

"You sure know how to piss a girl off huh?" Cana suddenly commented from behind him.

"You've been eavesdropping?" Naruto said slowly, releasing more and more killer intent for each second that passed.

"Well, I guess I should be going." Cana quickly spoke and ran out of the guild in fear of what Naruto might do to her.

**TO BE CONTINUED**

**A/N: Reviews give me great motivation, so please do review. Well, I may be hinting a NaruXErza pairing, but it's not confirmed. You can give your opinions about it though. Oh, and yes, that's about all there is to Naruto's fields of magic. Do provide some opinions about that too.**

**Last but not least, review and I'll write as much as I can!**


	4. Chapter 3

Naruto was still sore on the head after Erza hit him hard the previous day. Frankly, she was avoiding Naruto as much as she could, and Naruto wasn't dumb enough to not notice that. She was avoiding eye contact with him, and the most obvious sign was she was sitting on the far end of the guild, far far away from him.

Naruto frowned, did a simple, sincere compliment turn out to be an insult? Or could it have just triggered some bad memories?

'That's impossible, how could such an innocent comment remind others of their past?' Naruto shook off that thought and looked away. Boy how wrong was he.

From a distance, he could see Natsu and Gray fighting, without any self control. The tables around there were half destroyed. The other guild members merely shook their head in disappointment. The next generation sure was a noisy one. Naruto slowly approached them, careful not to injure himself in their fight.

Natsu's fist was covered in flames, prepared to take Gray down any moment.

Gray on the other hand, was taking off his clothes and throwing them onto the floor.

"CLOTHES!" Cana shrieked from afar, but Gray did not seem to be fazed by her shriek. Instead, in his hands were dozens of sharp ice shards, prepared to be fired any moment as well.

"This will be my victory!" Natsu jumped towards Gray, "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"

Gray quickly released the ice shards towards Natsu and morphed the ice into the shape of a shield. "Ice Make Shield!"

Natsu was slightly hurt by the shards, he was about to punch Gray with the same technique but was carried by Erza from behind.

"What are you doing? You wanna fight?" Natsu was agitated by the interruption, instead he changed his target towards Erza. Surprisingly, Erza caught his hand before the attack connected and now he was helplessly suspended in mid-air by Erza.

"Put me down! If it's a fight you want, then you got it!"

Meanwhile, Naruto was shocked by Erza's sudden action. He thought she was the anti-social kind, like an introvert. Perhaps he was wrong, perhaps he merely misjudged her.

Erza was frowning as well. Ever since this boy Natsu came, which was really just one day, the whole guild had been extremely noisy, the contributors who she recognized as both the fire and ice mages.

She put him down and punched Natsu hard in the guts, causing him to fall down on the floor with a 'Thud' and making sure to reprimand him a line or two. "Don't you know how to appreciate your friends? You should be grateful that you still have them..."

Gray stared in shock with his mouth wide open as Erza went on and on to the point where she was almost muttering gibberish. Then, all of a sudden, she looked up and pointed toward him.

"And you! Don't you have the slightest bit of self control? The whole guild is extremely rowdy now because of the two of you! You are both Fairy Tail mages, stop acting like some kid and have some self restraint..."

Naruto knew this would not end well if he let this continue. He simply picked one job from the board and motioned for Natsu to get up and follow him, to which he gladly complied.

"Where do you think you're going now, Natsu?" Erza glared at him, killer intent directed towards his leaving form.

"Erm.. Doing a job, like a mage, yeah, like a Fairy Tail mage!" he finished and quickly ran out of the guild, chasing after Naruto.

* * *

"Who the hell did she think she was!" Natsu complained about Erza. "Some kind of mother? Hell, I can do what I want to do!"

"Now now, Natsu, she's just thinking for the safety of the both of you and the guild's properties." Naruto had no idea where did that bullshit he just muttered came from. Intuition, he suddenly thought of, he was satisfied with the answer.

"Where are we going anyway?" Natsu suddenly asked.

Naruto looked up and had a deadpan expression on. He slapped his forehead hard and said to himself, "How could I forget to read about the request!"

Then he grabbed the notice from his pocket and skimmed through it.

_Save the Princess_

_Details: Meet the client at the crossroad outside the town of Konoha at 1pm today._

_Reward: 1000 jewels_

"1000 jewels! That's even lower than fence painting D-rank missions! But the presence of intense action should compensate for the low reward." Naruto assured himself and decided to accept the job, he was already far from the guild anyways.

"You gotta be kidding me! That's 500 jewels per person." Natsu exclaimed.

"Why do you care? You just eat fire anyway."

"I eat normal food too you know."

Naruto halted and turned back towards Natsu, "Look, I just saved your ass from god knows whatever that possessed Erza. So you might as well be grateful that I brought you with me." Natsu went silent. "Or you could just go back and get another one for yourself."

"Fine, I'm following you." Natsu mumbled.

* * *

"You must be mages from Fairy Tail?" a voice from behind asked once they reached their destination.

"Damn right I am. Who is it that requires my help then?"

"To be honest, I didn't expect two to come considering the low reward."

"Well, the more the merrier. So what is it?"

An old man who turned out to be the client explained the details, "You see, I am the butler of the princess' family." he paused for a while looking at both their expression before continuing. "But I'm sure you wouldn't want to listen to the boring old crap story, right?"

"Yeah, just tell us what to do!" Natsu pumped his fist up, ready for some action.

Naruto raised an eyebrow, wondering why the butler seemed to not care about whatever was it that happened.

"I guess I will just go straight to the point then. The princess was forced to marry an evil prince from another country. She is now being sent to the other kingdom in a carriage, which is passing through the forest at the West. Your job is to intercept them and 'kidnap' the princess."

"And deliver her back?"

"That is up to the princess to decide. Should she decide to not to return, your reward will be sent to the guild by a messenger."

"Let's go then." Natsu took off on his own towards the west. Naruto then followed Natsu, turning back once to see a smiling butler. He had a bad feeling about this.

* * *

Naruto was actively sensing the life energies of whoever were holding the princess captive. It was already late afternoon and by nightfall they seemed to have been lost. Fortunately, they spotted four men sitting around a campfire from afar.

Planning to proceed with caution, Naruto walked slowly towards the group, his right hand gripping onto a knife in his cloak. However, his plan was foiled when Natsu rushed towards the men straight on and asked, "Hey, have you guys seen a princess who's being caught? We're trying to save her now."

The four men looked towards each other, slowly forming a grin on their face.

"Why are you looking for a princess in the middle of the forest in the middle of the night?"

"We're mages from Fairy Tail. See?" Natsu flashed that tattoo of his on his right arm and gave them a thumbs up.

"Aren't you afraid of the animals in the wild, kid? You might get killed."

"Of course not. I'm not some weakling who couldn't handle some animals!" Natsu boasted with that arrogance he would one day be famous for.

Meanwhile, Naruto observed their conversation, nothing seemed odd at first, for all he knew, they could probably be just campers out in the forest enjoying themselves. Then, he realized that the life energy radiating from them was different. Different from a human, resembling more of an animal's but much wilder.

"Perhaps so..." another man spoke up and nodded towards the others. "But what about demons?"

Then it all happened in a split second. One of the man attempted to hold Natsu hostage by strangling Natsu's neck with his arm but was killed swiftly by a jagged knife that hit right in the middle of his forehead.

"One down, three to go..." Naruto taunted.

"What? They're enemies?" And yes, he just realized he was currently facing enemies. "Fire Dragon's Roar!"

The blast of fire originating from Natsu's mouth hit the nearby trees, setting them on fire, thus lightening up the entire area. Unfortunately, they dodged the attack. Two of them transformed into horse-sized wolves and rushed towards Naruto.

Naruto quickly jumped out of the way, realizing his illusions did not seem to work on the wolves.

"Natsu, Plan B!"

"What's Plan B?" Natsu asked back in confusion

"Kill them all!"

"Well, wasn't that Plan A?" Naruto sweat dropped at Natsu's thought processes. Though, Natsu seemed to be having a hard time fighting these wolf-humans, they were extremely fast. In fact, none of Natsu's fire attacks were able to inflict the slightest damage on them.

Meanwhile, Naruto attempted another illusion on them, but their reactions proved the ineffectiveness of his illusions on them. He had to resort to combat and risk ruining his title as The Assassin who delivers a swift and clean kill, though he mainly killed them mentally. He reached into his pocket for a boomerang and aimed for the wolf approaching Natsu from behind.

The boomerang travelled at high speed towards the wolf, successfully inflicting a rather large wound on its body but that did not stop it from attacking Natsu. He was sent crashing into a tree by the wolf.

"Natsu!"

"Was that supposed to hurt me?" Natsu taunted and ignited the tip of his elbow with flame. Both Natsu and the wolf charged towards each other. "Fire Dragon's Flame Elbow!"

They stopped in front of each other, Natsu's fist was on the head of the wolf while the wolf seemed to have slashed his torso. For a moment they both merely stood still, then the wolf collapsed, followed by Natsu who soon went unconscious.

Another wolf immediately leaped with immense speed towards Natsu, hoping to kill Natsu but suddenly came to an abrupt halt when it was startled by a knife that missed it and hit right on the tree with an unconscious Natsu.

"Am I too fast for you, boy?" The wolf turned towards Naruto.

"Think again." Naruto said and he was suddenly gone.

"Black Dragon's Flight." The wolf didn't have enough time to turn its head when its head was stabbed by Naruto's hidden blade from behind.

"That's the third one. But where's the last one?" Naruto looked around, sensing wherever the wolf could possibly be hiding. Oddly, he did not feel the presence of another being anywhere within the region.

'Perhaps it just ran away.' Naruto quickly extinguished the flames before they spread too much and checked on Natsu's injury, finding that it was a rather deep slash. A scar was bound to be there when he recovered.

"Hehehe, don't you dare move from that spot now." Naruto suddenly heard a voice from behind told him. He could sense the presence of two beings, one from earlier and another was a different vibration, weaker yet still having the wildness within.

"Went to grab your hostage now, have you?" Naruto spoke up.

Naruto slowly turned his head backwards to face him. To his right was perhaps one of the most beautiful person in the world he would ever see. She had long flowing red hair and bangs that ended in a curly manner. She seemed to be annoyed by the man holding her hostage, mainly because she was constantly looking towards him and back to Naruto, as if telling Naruto to deal with him as quickly as possible.

On the other hand, the wolf-man was inspecting the damage done to his comrades, and his face became paler with each second that passed.

"Just what are you and who do you serve?" Naruto looked at him with cold blue eyes. Eyes that guarantee one pain and despair.

"Shu.. shut up!" the man found himself trembling.

"Come on now, answer the question. You know you will die anytime soon."

"We are werewolves from the Inuzuka clan and we serve proudly under the soon to be heir of the clan Inuzuka Kiba." He said with as much confidence he could spite.

Naruto's eyes widened but he soon regained his composure. He understood it now. The different vibration they radiated was because their life energies weren't human or animal. This must be youki.

"I see, I will help you to send your regards." Naruto said and soon he was gone.

"Black Dragon's Flight."The werewolf widened his eyes but he wasn't able to register the fact that he was stabbed in the head from behind and already dropped dead onto the floor.

"Heh… You must be The Assassin, the one who deals a swift clean kill. How's my father doing within that mind of yours?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow at the last question before widening his eyes. "You… You're…"

**"My daughter."**

She leaned in closer to him and pushed him onto the ground before crashing her lips right into his. Naruto was speechless, the fox in his head was gonna kill him for doing this to his daughter. But for now, he was in paradise, he might as well enjoy it as much as he could. Slowly closing his eyes, he returned the kiss passionately.

**"You do realize what you're doing, right?"**

'Yeah, but I'm doing it right in front of your face anyway. That's my reward.' Naruto replied in his mind.

**"You do realize that the next time you come in your mind, you will be witnessing your own death like you've never seen them before too, right?"**

'You're kidding me…' Naruto sweat dropped in reply.

They remained in that position for a few seconds and suddenly broke off when Natsu suddenly jumped up and shouted, "Die! You filthy wolves!"

Natsu turned his head and realized that all four of the wolves were already dead, and Naruto seemed to be on the ground… with another girl around his age on top of him.

"Aaaah…." Both of them watched in amusement as Natsu quickly covered his eyes and ran towards the opposite direction. They watched on for a moment and saw Natsu crashing right onto the ground.

"Ouch. Why is my stomach so painful…"

She giggled and got up their rather awkward position. "I knew you'd came, but you're a little too late. Anyway, I'm Athena, the new Kyuubi, replacing my father as head of the pack. I'm only S rank though. Nice to meet you." She offered her hand to Naruto who was still on the ground.

Naruto took it. "Namikaze Naruto. Your father's…" Athena sweat dropped at Naruto's apparent inability to find the right word to describe the relationship between himself and her father, the previous Kyuubi. "Sorry about it though."

"That's alright. But I might go chasing your parents from Shinigami-sama just to kill them you know?" she finished the sentence with a smile on, this time it was Naruto's turn to sweat drop.

"Help me…" Then they realized Natsu had been mumbling for help all along. Upon approaching him, Naruto realized that the wound he got seemed to have became deeper.

"Werewolf scratches will have to be healed by other means. Also, one can die easily from just a scratch done by a werewolf." Athena offered her advice. "Let me help."

Her hand glowed green and she placed them over the three slashes on Natsu's torso. Miraculously, the wound closed up, not leaving a single scar behind.

"Yeah! The pain is all gone! Now I'm all charged up!" Natsu shouted.

"Yeah yeah, keep it down, will you?" Naruto told him.

"Who is she?"

"Huh? The princess."

"Wow, she's beautiful." Even Natsu was outright in awe at her beauty.

She blushed lightly but in the dark, no one seemed to have noticed.

"Well, are you gonna tell us about how you plan this mission so well so that I'm the one who takes it?"

"The low reward is a first. No one in their right mind would go on a job with such a low reward, would there?"

"Did you know I took this job coincidentally! But I did offer Natsu here to return if he was not satisfied." They both turned towards Natsu, who shouted back a "What?"

Athena didn't know how to answer. "My butler sure knows how to handle things well."

The mere mention of the butler reminded Naruto of his eerie smile.

"Well, his eerie smile irritates me…"

Athena just sweat dropped. "Or maybe we're just fated to meet each other under such circumstances."

"Speaking of which, is this a plan to get me to rescue you too?"

"In a way, yes. Two years ago, the Inuzuka pack came to my mansion and demanded a marriage between their soon to be heir and me. Despite all my other subordinates' protests, I decided to agree to this, just to get you to 'rescue' me. But I'd prefer if you'd 'kidnap' me back to Fairy Tail with you."

"What about your pack?"

She waved it off and answered, "Ah, don't worry about that, my butler can handle it while I'm absent."

"You sure are one cunning fox." Naruto smirked. Honestly, he was impressed by her ability to plan ahead, very ahead.

"I'm not given the title of the Kyuubi just because of my beauty, you know."

"Yup, and your father's been bugging me to search for you."

The conversation stopped momentarily when Naruto realized that Natsu was extraordinarily silent considering his 'loudness'. He turned his head to face Natsu who was sleeping peacefully with his head on Naruto's thigh.

"He can be cute when he sleeps." Athena giggled at the thought.

"Well, that is only when he sleeps. By the way, do you have any idea why is it that they are immune to my illusions?"

She suddenly frowned and looked away. "My father knows the answer to that best. Before the werewolf and kitsune pack were allies, we were constantly fighting each other. Then, the werewolves had researches who developed talismans to combat our illusions. Somehow, they succeeded. They came in the form of blue little crosses, usually worn on the neck of the wolves. As a matter of fact, even my father wasn't able to perform a successful illusion."

"That's because it blocks others from tampering your mind or trespassing into it." Naruto deduced.

"That has always been the assumption. But we didn't always depend on our illusions, we had advanced weapon shipments as well. The war was a draw and we became allies."

"What are they gonna do now that you're 'kidnapped'?"

"Search for me, of course. But they're likely to never succeed unless I want them to. Have I told you that you've got some rather interesting skills?"

"Nope, but I'm not so sure about that myself. I haven't even fully grasp the concept of A rank illusions and I'm only a half dragon slayer."

Athena sweat dropped again, "You're too humble for your own good. Let me help you with the illusions then."

"Thanks. But there's something I've been wanting to ask you." Naruto suddenly had a serious expression.

* * *

"I see... Shall we head back then?" Naruto then picked up Natsu.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, let's just return." He offered her his hand while giving a reassuring smile.

"You don't sound convincing." She still took his hand, and the next second she realized she was already on the roof of a building.

"Welcome to my home." Naruto said.

"You really hate wasting time, don't you?"

* * *

"What? Where am I?" Natsu jerked up the next morning and realized he was back in Konoha instead of the forest. He went downstairs to see the owner of the house he was in and the girl he met last night dining at a table, talking and giggling.

"How nice of you to join us, Natsu. Athena cooks very well." Naruto gestured for Natsu to have a seat.

"Erm, I think I'll just have breakfast at the guild."

"Is it because you think my cooking is bad?" Athena gave him a death glare, with a smile on.

Natsu started sweating due to fear, and quickly went over beside Naruto to have a seat.

"Now you're a good boy." Athena's smile turned genuine.

"Yeah…" Natsu deadpanned at her sudden change in expression.

"I've been wondering, do you know anything about the dragons' disappearance?" Natsu suddenly paid full attention to their conversation when Naruto mentioned about this particular topic he was extremely sensitive in.

"To be honest, no one besides the dragons themselves know."

"I see."

"But there are rumors going on that the king of dragons called for a meeting and others, but I only trust the rumor about the meeting because the rest are rather unlikely."

"Did the rumors say when could they possibly be back?"

Athena turned her head towards Natsu. "Unfortunately, no. Sorry about Igneel-san. We were great friends too."

Natsu's expression went down in mere moments. "Cheer up, baby. We can go slay that fucked up black dragon together next time, after it finishes teaching me all the dragon slayer secret arts." The thought of killing another dragon cheered him up, somehow. Perhaps it's just his dragon slayer instincts.

"You really hate the dragon of darkness, don't you?" Athena stated.

"Yeah, he locked me up at that mountain of his for two fucking years! Then when he was gone for two whole days, I escaped and returned to Fairy Tail."

"..and made a name for yourself."

"..and finding a stray little dragon." Upon mentioning that, both Naruto and Athena turned towards Natsu, who was happily munching on his pancakes.

"What? You're scaring me, guys." Natsu was frustrated by their actions. Somehow, the conversation would halt with the both of them staring at him intently.

"Nothing." As expected, they answered in unison.

"Fine!" Natsu finished the last of his meal and rushed out of the house, presumably towards the guild.

"Nevertheless, I wish to research…" The next moment, Natsu slammed open the door with fear on his face.

"I forgot about Erza! Naruto-nii, can you come with me?"

"Alright." He turned back towards Athena. "Coming?"

She pondered for a moment before nodding.

* * *

The door to the guild opened. In came Naruto with a red fox on his shoulder, and a Natsu behind him, with his head sticking out, as if looking for someone.

"Miss me?" Gray suddenly said from behind.

Naruto deadpanned when he realized Natsu was no longer afraid. He was pumped up instead, ready to beat Gray into a pulp.

The door opened shortly after to reveal a red headed girl.

Natsu and Gray instantly halted their actions, Natsu seemed to be riding on Gray and chomping Gray's head, while Gray's ice-covered fist was inches away from Natsu's head. A rather awkward position, most would say. Oh, and have I mentioned that Gray was naked with the exception of his boxers?

Naruto watched in awe as Natsu quickly jumped down and placed his arm over Gray's neck and on his left shoulder. The ice on Gray's fist immediately melted and he was doing the same thing too.

"We're just playing around, Erza. No need to be angry…" Gray started.

"Yeah, man. We're as close as pals." Natsu finished.

Erza glared at them for a little longer and walked past them towards the job request board.

As soon as that happened, both of them pushed each other away and shouted in unison, "Who would…" only to realize that Erza was still glaring at the both of them.

They quickly went closer to each other and resumed their previous position. "We will always be pals, Erza. No need to worry."

Erza looked back to the job request board, took down a notice, registered and went out of the guild. It all happened in silence, the whole guild was looking at both parties.

"Looks like the guild's got a discipline head now." Wakaba joked.

"She might really be a bother next time, you know." Macao commented. Then, a sword suddenly flew over to their table, landing right in between the both of them.

The guild remained in silence for a while… but the rowdiness resumed very soon, and so did the fight between Natsu and Gray.

Naruto just shook his head and went into the office.

"Is it just me, or did the whole guild just went silent for two full minutes there?"

"It's just you." Naruto joked.

"Very funny. What is it that you want?"

The fox on Naruto's shoulder jumped onto the table. "This fox here is Athena." Naruto introduced. "And she wants to be a member of the guild."

Makarov sweat dropped, "What magic can a fox possibly do?"

Then suddenly the fox was replaced with a 'Poof' and smoke appeared out of nowhere. When the smoke faded, on Makarov's table was a red headed beauty.

Makarov fainted soon, with blood flowing out from his nose.

"Your guild master's a pervert, it seems." she turned behind to see Naruto who was having a hard time halting his nose bleed. "Oh, you too? Na. Ru. To. Kun?" she finished slowly in a sultry tone, and the scene ended with Naruto fainting as well.

"Oops, father's gonna kill me for overdoing it."

* * *

Makarov had an incredibly serious expression on. He wasn't sure how to deal with Athena.

"You know very well that this is a mage guild, why do you still enter? Aren't you afraid of being attacked?" Makarov asked.

"My illusions are powerful enough for none to notice that a demon is among their group. Even you barely noticed if I had not done it..." Athena reassured.

"Alright, then it's settled."

Naruto, who was leaning against a wall all the while finally spoke up. "Old man, we're not done here. We need to talk."

"Speak."

"Who was my mother?"

Makarov tried to keep a straight face on, but his mere frown gave it away. "Uzumaki Kushina. A nice person, never killing without reason, though angering her is never wise."

"What is she?"

"Remember what I told you about this world?" Makarov asked in reply.

"That the world is reigned by humans and demons, with mages constantly in war with the demons while the normal civilians try their best to lead a peaceful life."

"Yes. I also said that just like the existence of S-rank mages, there are of course S-rank demons which are as powerful, if not, more powerful, as they are usually the leader."

"Yes, and you also said that my father was an extremely powerful S-rank mage who slayed a few S-rank demons and was about to inherit your position as guild master."

"That I did, but I must stress that the demons he slayed are malicious ones, those that harm humans. In reality, there are three types of beings, the first are mages eager to kill demons, the second are demons eager to kill mages, both types which are apparently blinded by the never ending war. But there is the third type, which consists of both mages and demons willing to coexist with each other, only attacking each other as defense against attacks from them. We of Fairy Tail belong to the third type, and you must remember that well Naruto, and bring that knowledge with you as a reminder on every single mission you go on next time."

"Exactly the reason why you reasoned with Athena."

"Yes. Now, while your father was human turned vampire, your mother was a pure blooded vampire. She was an S rank vampire known widely as the Red Death."

"The older guild members know about that too?"

"A few, but they saw her as who she was, and not what she was."

"I see." he smiled and left the room.

* * *

(Two years later - Naruto: Age 13)

Erza watched as the enemy stumbled onto the floor and went unconscious, with his eyes open. Apparently, he was the last among the group of fiends raiding a village.

"You always enjoy doing that, don't you?"

"They are targets for practice after all, but I must admit that fucked up minds like his always give me the creeps when I have to enter them, even just for training purposes." Naruto sighed.

The fox on his shoulder spoke up, "Good job. It would seem that you have improved on the usage of A rank illusions."

"All thanks to you." he smiled and tickled the fox, earning a giggle from her.

"Shall we head back then?" Erza suggested.

* * *

"Master, the fiends have been dealt with." Erza reported upon entering the guild to the master, who had taken a liking to sit on the table of the bar in the guild.

"Very good. Ah, let's welcome three new members on this wonderful day." Makarov grinned.

"Huh?" Naruto looked around and noticed three white haired siblings on a table not far from them, but as he did so, the one who he supposed was the eldest got up and looked towards the both of them.

"What? More pathetic kids in this guild?" She had her hair tied into a ponytail and her arms folded, wearing punk Gothic clothing which strangely seems like it was asking 'You wanna fight?', unlike her two siblings who tried their best to put up a smile to him.

Erza visibly flinched at the comment, while Naruto quickly held out a hand to calm her down.

"In case you haven't noticed, we seem to be of the same age." Naruto stated, their height were the same after all. "The name's Naruto. Namikaze Naruto. To my right is Erza Scarlet. So, to who do I owe the pleasure of garnering her attention?"

"You know, you've learned to speak a whole load of bullshit." Athena whispered from his shoulder, earning a sweat drop from Naruto.

"Wise words from a loser." All the while keeping up her acts of intimidation. "But I suppose I should you deserve the right to know the one who would beat you, and would always do."

Naruto started to twitch, looking back to Erza, her face was already flushing red, ready to beat the white haired girl in front of them until she would cry for her mother. Meanwhile, Makarov watched as he felt the atmosphere tensed incredibly.

"Remember that well, I am Mirajane."

Naruto stretched out his hand, gesturing for a handshake. Mirajane looked down towards his hand, wary of any poison that he could have put on his hand.

"What? Afraid I might kill you with just a handshake?" Naruto smirked, his knowledge of psychology not failing him.

"Hmph." She took his hand but retracted shortly after, a small cut evident on her middle and ring finger. "You are one dirty bastard."

"Perhaps you shouldn't have betrayed your senses." Naruto's smirk widened.

"Too afraid that you can't face with me even with your little bitch?"

"That's it! She's going down!" Erza summoned two swords in her hand and charged towards Mirajane who morphed her arms into demonic looking arms.

"Wait!" Naruto couldn't stop them in time and before he knew it, the whole guild was already shaking.

Meanwhile, Natsu and Gary who was hiding in a corner, in fear that Erza would beat them both severely, watched the whole incident unfold. Honestly, they were extremely surprised when they found the strict Erza was not immune to intimidation.

"Why does she get to fight?" came Natsu's complain.

Erza was having a rather hard time fairing against Mirajane's speed. She had for a second rival within the guild. She slashed both her swords to form an X, intending on slashing Mirajane's demon arms, which she was currently using to block her attacks. For a moment, it seemed as if nobody was able to inflict damage upon each other. Every time Erza stroke, Mirajane would block with her arms or evade them with incredible speed. When it was the other way round, Erza would block them with her sword. Their attack and defense seemed so perfect.

Then, Erza stepped on a puddle of water and slipped slightly, creating an opening for Mirajane. However, before she could slash Erza with those long claws on her demonic arms, she halted her tracks as she narrowly avoided a small double prong knife which slashed her cheek slightly and continued its path, landing on the entrance.

"You really are a dirty bastard." Mirajane looked towards Naruto.

"Tell me, have you heard what I'm being called? They call me the Assassin. The one who deals a swift and clean kill. Besides, I couldn't just let you hurt Erza-chan like that, right?"

"I don't care about your stupid title! Just shut the fuck up!" She then appeared in front of him with high speed, and he had to perform a back flip just in time to avoid an attack from her.

"You really have a tendency to use foul words, no?"

"I swear, if you don't fucking shut the fuck up, I'll rip that mouth of your face!" she shouted angrily and lashed towards his direction. Unfortunately for her, his speed was one that rivaled hers. The only way she could possibly wound him was when she could catch him off guard. Devising a plan within her mind, she suddenly stopped and found him standing behind another table. Then, she suddenly vanished.

Naruto's eyes widened, one moment she was standing in front of him, and the next she was gone. He looked around the guild, but did not see her anywhere. In fact, the whole guild was staring at their fight, even Erza was looking up from her half sitting position.

Then, she suddenly appeared in front of him and inflicted a small wound on his cheek. He cursed when he realized she performed a simple transformation magic and mimicked the actions of the other guild members.

"That's payback for what you've done."

Getting tired of avoiding her attacks, Naruto waited till she swiped her arm once more and caught hold of it. Rushing close to her, he willed his blade out and positioned it right in front of her neck.

"Don't force me to hurt you." Naruto threatened.

"I'd like to see you try that." Mirajane countered and flung Naruto with that immense strength of hers.

"You're pretty strong for a little girl."

"Unlike the little boy in front of me." she smirked, thinking that she had the upper hand.

"Enough Mirajane." Makarov calmly ordered, though it was obvious that she would be ignoring him until Naruto was beaten into a pulp, again and again, until she was satisfied.

"It would seem that you're rather persistent." Mirajane commented about Naruto.

"The hell you aren't." he said.

"I've already seen the position of your weapon, when I have your right hand captured, you are just helpless, pitiful brat when you can't throw your knives or strike with your blade."

"We'll see." he leaped to his left, avoiding both of Mirajane's arm which she were planning to use to crush him. Retrieving a few knives from within his cloak, he threw them all in a wave pattern, which she managed to dodged all of them.

Reaching into his cloak for more knives, he then predicted her movements and threw them in accordance but they merely dealt minimal damage due to the natural strength of her demonic arms, which she blocked the knives with.

Performing a few graceful leaps, he swiftly got behind her and attempted to stab her with his right hidden blade. As if knowing he would do that, Mirajane caught his right hand and smirked, "Gotcha. You're open now." Mirajane motioned her left arm towards his guts, intending to punch him hard. Naruto suddenly smirked, "You think?"

Mirajane widened her eyes as another blade slid out Naruto's left hand and stabbed her left arm hard, after all she didn't know about his second blade. A howl of pain was heard throughout the entire guild.

"Oh, fuck..." Realizing that what he just did served to further antagonize her, he couldn't help but swore.

"Naruto.. was... it?" Mirajane slowly asked. "**Take Over: Satan Soul! You're about to witness your own death.."**

Naruto looked up and noticed the drastic change in her appearance. Retrieving more knives from within his cloak, Naruto threw them in front of him in the shape of a circle, but they somehow appeared to be floating on air, "Black Dragon's Shield: Stage One!"

The knives then emitted visible waves of dark energy and linked towards each other, creating a one sided shield of sparkling black energy he held on his left hand. Naruto had to make a 180 degrees turn along with his shield in order to block Mirajane's attack from behind.

'That's new. The shield is actually receiving damage... Her speed, it also seemed to have increased..." Naruto concluded and took up a few knives from his right hand, "Black Dragon's Chain!"

Again, the knives emitted sparkling black energy and linked to each other in the form of a chain. He flung it all around him, prepared for any incoming attacks from Mirajane. 'Shit, she's gone again!' Naruto suddenly realized and looked around his left and right.

**"You forgot to look up."** Naruto heard Mirajane's voice from above him. The next second, he was already pinned down by her left hand, while in her right hand, she seemed to be charging up a beam of darkness.

"Shit, you're really trying to kill me, aren't you?" Naruto asked, all the while devising a suitable counter attack.

**"Too bad, you deserved this."** She answered and slammed the beam right in his chest.

"Black Dragon's Scales!" Mirajane suddenly felt as if she hit concrete with her bare fist, but she could feel the damage she had done to him.

"You're not bad, even with a darkness attack, you could still inflict such damage to my ultimate defense. This defense should have been able to prevent harm done to my body..." he paused and coughed out blood. "Especially attacks with the darkness element. You have one hell of an attack there."

The whole guild continued watching in silence while Mirajane realized what she had done, she could even have killed him with just that attack, especially when it was done at point blank range.

"Naruto!" Erza called out in panic.

Mirajane reverted back to her normal form and knelt down by his side, muttering an apology to him, but then Naruto suddenly smirked.

"Haven't the thought of why my knives never ran out came across your mind?"

Mirajane widened her eyes. Naruto was right. He hauled dozens after dozens of knives for both attack and defense purposes, but somehow he always had more to reach from within his cloak.

"Maybe you just have infinitely many!" she replied and pulled down his cloak and realized that there wasn't a single knife to be seen. "Heh, you've finally ran out of knife supplies then."

"Maybe.. Maybe not..." Naruto smirk widened when he noticed her confusion.

"What do you mean not? I've checked with my own eyes!"

Then, Naruto's wound closed up rapidly in front of her eyes and not long after, he got up as if he had did not suffer from any injury before this.

"What?" Mirajane was beyond confusion. "What aren't you telling me?"

"This." Naruto replied and took out a few more knives from within his cloak after putting it back on.

"You've got some secret supply of knives, so what?" She was agitated by her own lack of understanding.

Another voice similar to Naruto said from behind, "Or like you said, I could have infinitely many." She slowly turned her head to see another Naruto standing behind her.

"Why..."

"Why are there two, or now, three of me?" another Naruto said from the second floor.

"You set up a simple illusion to replicate yourself!" she looked at her surroundings and out of nowhere, there seemed to be hundreds of Naruto coming out of nowhere.

"Half wrong answer." One replied.

"I admit that you're under an illusion magic, but the question lies in when have you been in the illusion? Or simply put, when have things began acting odd, people began acting in a different way?"

Mirajane's eyes widened. Then her surroundings started twisting and distorting, making her feel as if she was about to be torn apart. The next moment, both of them were standing apart again. She dropped to her knees and saw a startled Erza, then looked to her right to see a panting Naruto.

Then, not long after, murmurs could be heard among the other guild members, most were impressed. From their point of view, Naruto threw a knife towards the new member and then they both stood still for a moment and the next minute she was already on her knees.

"He's done it again!"

"Always with those illusion magic of his..."

"Bravo! An expert in illusion magic..."

"He should have fight her head on, not like a coward..."

The murmurs went on and on, while Naruto approached the both of them.

"You alright? Didn't give you too much of hard time?" he asked Mirajane with concern in his voice.

She was stunned at first, but a smile slowly appeared on her face. "Fuck... you..." she whispered and collapsed right into her arm.

Meanwhile, Erza watched as Naruto performed another illusion on Mirajane who later collapsed into his embrace, she felt a pain in her heart, but couldn't register the feeling. Was it anger? Anger that she lost? Or was it... envy? Envy that she was not his first priority?

"Nee-chan!" The two siblings who watched quickly gathered around her.

"I'm sorry, but she should be awake by night fall. Would you like me to carry her back home?"

The mere offer for help sparked different reactions among the other guild members. Erza seemed to have gotten redder, though whether it was anger, embarrassment or envy, even she herself was not sure. Her other two siblings had a deadpan expression, eyes widened, staring at Naruto as if he just said something unbelievable.

"What? I gotta be responsible for her right?" Naruto said as he carried Mirajane up bridal style and walked out of the guild, with her two siblings following behind. Let's just say that what he said and did seemed to have agitate Erza further, as seen from the sword that was thrown towards the door the moment it closed.

**TO BE CONTINUED**

**A/N: First of all, I'd like to know your opinions about the addition of a possible pairing, i.e. with an OC (Athena). Review to let me know about them. Oh, and just to clear things up about the fight between Naruto and Mira, yes, Naruto would have lost to her if he relied purely on combat, but he managed to be the victor because he relied on his illusion magic.**

**Last but not least, do review, as they give me motivation to write more!  
**


	5. Chapter 4

"Huh?" A little girl woke up and looked around. She had pink flowing straight hair and was in a blood stained dress. She looked down at her own hands and found them to be blood stained as well.

She stood up slowly, tears flowing from her eyes continuously. It was at times like this she felt hopeless, that she can't do anything to quench her thirst.

"Now that's my good little sister." A voice behind her complimented her.

"I… killed again…" she muttered. "Someone… Anyone… help me…"

The person behind her was confused, why would she ask for help? Isn't killing natural?

**

* * *

**

Naruto had a big red fist mark on his cheek, and was currently moaning in pain. He slowly made his way back to the guild, recalling the events that just occurred not more than 10 minutes ago.

MIrajane woke up to the sight of Naruto who was sleeping in a sitting position. His head was resting on the blanket by her legs. At first, she wondered who the cute boy in front of her was and blushed a deep red, then memories of the previous day flooded through her mind, from challenging him to being beaten, then after that she did not know what happen. Stunned for a moment, she thought of how she ended up in bed at her apartment. If her two siblings weren't the ones who carried her back here as they didn't have the strength to, then…

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING ON MY BED!" she shouted out loud, making sure to wake him.

As a result, Naruto woke up with a jump and stumbled onto the floor.

"What the heck is your problem? Shouting out loud early in the morning?"

"You! What are you doing here!" she pointed a finger towards him and demanded an answer from him at the same time.

"Well, it still was one of my first few times casting an A rank illusions, I was afraid your mind could have been damaged. So, I carried you back…"

Apparently, Naruto had not realized that Mirajane's face was getting redder. Before he knew it, he was knocked over to the other side of the room, by Mirajane with a fist.

"I am not a weakling! I do not need one to be worried about me, much less touch me!" she shouted towards him.

"That's no way to repay…"

"I did not ask you to help me! Now get out!" she pointed towards the door, which Naruto exited through shortly after.

Naruto sighed as he reached the guild's entrance. He still was not sure what wrong did he do, but at least the apology he got from her siblings relieved him, but only a little.

"Morning." He saw Athena who was in human form waving at him and went over to the bench she was on and took a seat beside her.

"You didn't return last night, mind explaining where you've been?"

"I was… worried about Mira-san, so I…"

"Stayed overnight at her place? Heh, you're not a kid anymore…" she smirked.

"What?" But Naruto only realized what she meant a moment later. "What were you thinking?" he shot out quickly.

"Oh, nothing. I found this A rank job that arrived this morning, it seemed rather… interesting.." she took out a piece of paper and placed it in front of him.

_Kill the Beast_

_Client: Mayor of Florenza_

_Details: There has been many attacks going around in the small villages around the town of Florenza. The victims had their two puncture wounds on their neck and died due to excessive loss of blood. Please send help as soon as possible. _

_Rank: A_

_Reward: 500,000 jewels_

"Okay… This is a rather scary one…" Naruto commented with a frown, but just immediately after that, his expression became a determined one, "That's why I must take up this challenge."

Then the door opened with a rather large slam and in came Mirajane along with her two siblings. She eyed the whole guild for a moment and spotted her target, who was none other than Naruto.

"Back already? How about we finish what we started yesterday?"

"Fighting again?" Elfman and Lisanna could only whine at their sister's ignorance. Suddenly, a knife landed on the edge of the table, causing the both of them to shriek out loud while Mirajane barely gave it any attention.

"The next one won't miss." Naruto threatened lightly, hoping that she would be afraid of his impressive throwing skills... "Besides, last I recalled, you lost."

"Oh, so now you're using that as an excuse since you missed your target? And for the record, how can you claim to have won the fight when you haven't even injured me physically?" Mirajane taunted.

A tick mark immediately appeared on Naruto's forehead. "Now you've done it." He reached into his cloak once more and took out another knife.

"How about the two of you bring this outside?" Though Makarov did not the exact details of the fight, he would admit that Naruto won, but just with illusions? He wondered at the possibility of winning a fight like that.

"That's right, I'm not here to fight, I'm a busy man." Naruto then turned back towards the paper, planning his travel route in his mind.

Then suddenly the notice was snatched away. "Kill the beast? Okay.. This is a rather scary one…" she looked a little longer and suddenly exclaimed with a determined expression, "That's why I must take up this challenge!" Upon hearing that, Athena widened her eyes. Apparently, they had similar mindsets.

"Are you copying my thoughts or what? Besides, I found the job first." Naruto said and snatched the notice back.

"Nah-uh, snatchers keepers. I'm taking this one for sure." Mirajane disagreed and snatched the notice back. Then a pair of hands got in between them and pushed the two of them apart. It was revealed that Lisanna was the person who stopped their quarrel, momentarily.

"How about we go on the job together then?" Both Naruto and Mirajane looked down to her and answered in unison. "No."

"Great, then we will stay here whole day long, while whatever is out there continues to feed on more victims." she then looked towards Naruto and pleaded, "I'm sorry, Naruto-san, but Mirajane-nee is very persistent when she set her mind on something."

"Like hell I'm surrendering that mission to her… Fine." he reluctantly agreed to team up with the three siblings. "Now, since _I_ found the job, _I_ will be the team leader for this team." He declared with emphasis on himself.

"_I_ disagree. Since _I_ am the strongest here, _I_ should be the team leader." Mirajane obviously disagreed to Naruto's self made decision, also emphasizing the 'I'.

"In case you still haven't got it into your head, _I _won the fight yesterday!"

"Ahem… What kind of loser wins a fight without even touching the enemy? That wasn't counted, you coward!"

Naruto's face instantly went red. "What was that! You seem to really wish to die!"

"Nope, I'm merely pointing out facts."

"STOP!" Elfman and Lisanna shouted together at once, glad that their attempt to curb the quarrel was successful.

"Okay, I think it's time you end this childish quarrel of yours." Athena then used this opportunity to push the two apart.

"What do you think you're doing, bitch?" Mirajane was already furious when she was interrupted, now some outsider is planning to bud in their fight too?

"I ain't a bitch, I can tell you that for sure." Athena replied nonchalantly, apparently unaffected by her Mirajane's insult.

"Fuck you, don't interrupt me." She was about to attack when she suddenly felt an immensely powerful and threatening aura radiating from Athena. Her instincts were telling her to run away. She started to shiver. She could feel sweat running down her body. Was this what fear is?

"Now then, I hope we can all depart now." Athena quickly stopped releasing her deadly aura. The whole guild was already quiet by then, watching the drama scene occurring between the two.

Makarov narrowed his eyes and focused on Athena from the top floor, he had to keep an eye on her. After all, he still can't be sure what her purpose here was.

**

* * *

**

The mayor of Florenza stared at the five of them for what seemed like an eternity, sweat drops were evidently flowing down their foreheads.

"You know, I'd much rather prefer Fairy Tail to send just one or at most, two adults to deal with this situation. This ain't a fucking playground, kids."

"Watch your mouth, you fucking retard of an old shit." Mirajane lost her cool and immediately rushed towards the mayor, her right hand morphed into razor sharp claws, ready to pierce his neck.

Behind her was the two bodyguards of the mayor, their spear ready to pierce her whenever she attacked. Upon seeing this threat, both siblings each prepared to attack the two bodyguards.

"What's with this cliché killing chain?" Naruto had a few more sweat drops flowing down.

"Fine, if you die, that's not my problem."

"Underestimation leads to one's downfall." Athena stated in a matter of fact tone.

"As you all know, Florenza is an incredibly big town, with many surrounding villages under its control. Recently, there has been many attacks occurring in the villages to the west. You guys aren't the first we sent to investigate. Our own guards have been sent as well, but most did not live to see another day."

"I see, we will head there immediately." Naruto agreed and left the room.

"Wait, take half of the promised reward as deposit."

"Keep it, we will claim the whole thing when we return."

The mayor eyes widened as the five of them left the room, "Such determined youths…"

**

* * *

**

"Why does it seem eerily quiet?" Elfman looked around, his whole body shaking, from the looks of it, he wouldn't be stopping anytime soon. It was near nightfall, and the only light sources are from the street lights.

Mirajane glared at him and lectured, "Stop shivering like a coward! Be the man you are!"

"This is the first village that the creature attacked." Naruto said and continued walking. He was actively sensing for any strange living energy. He could feel the energies of average villagers from within the surrounding houses but the doors were shut tight.

"The beast must have really feared them so much for them to actually lock themselves up at home at night."

As they proceeded down the road, searching for an inn to stay for the night, Naruto suddenly felt someone approaching from the alley to his right.

His hand reached into his cloak, preparing to attack whatever that could potentially attack them. The others noticed it too, and halted their footsteps.

"What are you doing here at this time of the day! It's already nightfall!" To their relieve, a man who seemed to be in his 40s made himself known.

"We are investigating…" Before Lisanna could finish, the man cut them off with anxiety clear in his voice. "Kids like you shouldn't be wandering the streets at night, aren't you afraid that the beast might attack you? Quick, go back to your home!"

"Sir, please let us finish, we are not locals. We are here to…" Before Naruto could finish, he cut him off again, "Whatever, quickly follow me to my home."

**

* * *

**

"Okay, now you can speak."

"We are mages from Fairy Tail and we accepted the mayor's request to investigate these attacks."

"What? Now they're sending kids to their deaths?" The man sounded shock.

A tick mark quickly formed on their heads, they have been addressed as such whole day long, why can't adults have more faith in a kid's capability?

"Fuck you old man! We are more than enough to take down that cowardly beast that attacks people at night!" The oldest of the three siblings shouted with no apparent trait of manners.

"Girl, you should try acting more like a lady instead of acting like some tomboy." The tick mark seemed to thicken but before she could start swearing again, he quickly continued, "Anyway, I have been investigating this village at night for the second time since yesterday. Word has it that the beast has returned to this village to attack."

"What do you mean?"

"The beast doesn't focus its target on a village, it moves from one village to another very frequently, but only among the western villages of Florenza. That is why the villagers take precautions every night."

"I see, let us aid you then." The red head spoke up.

The man looked each of their eyes while keeping silent, he was thinking hard. He was risking their lives by accepting their offer of assistance. He knew that if he were to fail the mission, he'd much rather fail it alone.

"No, this is as far as you guys go. I'm claiming the beast's head myself so I could get the whole reward myself. You can stay here for the night, but you're leaving the next day." He tried his best to make himself sound firm, he didn't want put their lives in danger.

"You don't decide our lives, we aren't kids, we can take care and defend ourselves." Athena reiterated her point. "Our discussion ends here." She said and went up, followed by the other 4 kids.

"I have to make sure I hunt that beast down tonight." He told himself.

* * *

"Naruto, we need to talk." Naruto looked towards the door to see the red headed vixen standing there, who later went into the room. "I believe you don't know this, but I should tell you about the vampire kingdom."

This caught the blonde's attention.

"For centuries, the Uzumaki clan had been in control of the vampire kingdom, and under their rule, the vampires were able to live in peace. The previous throne holder was your mother, whose soul was devoured by the shinigami on the day of your birth, just like your father. Her right hand man, also her general, Akashiya Issa, was strong too, in fact, I would say they were rivals. After her death, he took over control of the kingdom, while you, the rightful heir was left under the care of Fairy Tail."

"What are you getting at? I'm not interested in ruling a kingdom."

"Well, I'm not really getting to that, yet." Naruto's glared at her before she continued, "Anyway, Issa had 4 daughters, 2 of which, Akuha and Kahlua, are infamous for their ruthlessness and cruelty. They showed no mercy and had helped in the expansion of the vampire kingdom recently. I suspect one of them is responsible for the attacks."

"What about the other two daughters?"

"The other two are Moka and Kokoa, but both of them are too young to actually be going around hunting for preys. In fact, their power is not even half of their sisters."

"How strong are their sisters?"

"Akuha is big trouble even for me, her ultimate blade, the hougetsu jigen-tou is capable of splitting one's body into half instantly, as for Kahlua, while she may not be as tough as Akuha, she is insane and therefore immune to mind breaking illusions."

"Why can't you just break it even more?" Naruto asked.

"That's the problem, her strength originates from her insanity, if we were to destroy her mind further… You get the point. So, if you are to face her, do not use illusions, for the effects would backfire."

"How do they look like?"

"You can distinguish them by their hair colour, Akuha's is black while Kahlua's is white."

Naruto pondered on the thought of fighting one of these two, "Troublesome…" he whispered to himself. He had not faced enemies he had problems dealing with in his life.

"Do not worry, you're not facing them alone, or better still, we may not actually be facing them." Athena tried to reassure him, but Naruto was ignoring her, he wasn't looking out into the window, deep in thought.

* * *

In the middle of the night, Athena woke the four of them after realizing that the man was gone. They half expected him to abandon them and resume his hunt himself. Did he really think they couldn't handle the beast? That was what the three Takeover siblings thought, but what was going through the other two's mind was not so simple, naturally they started to be worried about the possibility of having to face the enemies they discussed previously.

"Follow me, I can track his scent." Athena offered and walked down the path to the edge of the town, into the forest.

"This doesn't look good." Elfman commented as soon as they entered the forest. The forest was dark, incredibly dark. The sounds made by the owls and crickets merely made the atmosphere eerier than it already is.

They continued on until the red head stopped in her tracks. "His scent didn't go further than this. There's something else. There's no mistaking it, it's blood."

"What?" Elfman shrieked in shock.

She rushed to the bush a few steps to their right. What she saw was definitely not a pleasant sight. It was the corpse of the man, cut into half. Of course, there was an awful lot of blood around the body.

The others gathered around her, but turned their heads immediately after seeing it.

"Who the fuck would kill someone like that?" Mirajane asked loudly.

Her reply was a rustle heard from the bushes behind her. She turned her head sharply, along with the rest.

"Who's there?" the youngest one among them all asked, she was starting to shake in fear.

Naruto was actively checking out the radiation of the magical waves, for some reason, he was unable to find it. Suddenly, a large amount of killing intent gathered to one spot, it rushed for him so quickly that he almost had his right arm amputated. What followed was the sound of the broken trunk tumbling onto the ground behind him.

"Not bad…" a voice can be heard saying it. "You've got some speed, but are the rest as fast?"

Before Elfman realized it, he was pushed to the ground by Naruto, who received a cut to his left shoulder.

"Fuck!" he swore. "Get moving, we're at a disadvantage!" he shouted while helping Elfman up. They started running deeper into the forest, not thinking about where they possible be heading.

"That was no beast!"

"Shut up and keep running!"

They couldn't run for long, their stamina was limited after all, Lisanna was the first to stop. Surprisingly, Mirajane carried her on her back and continued running.

Elfman suddenly stopped, he was panting continuously, "I… cannot… run… any… further."

"Go." Naruto commanded. "I'll buy you all some time."

"What? No! This is Akuha you're facing!" Athena exclaimed in reply.

"Just go, please trust me, I will not die here." Naruto gave her a reassuring smile, though in the dark, she couldn't really see it. She placed Elfman on her back and said, "Please, be safe."

"You too… Now go." He said and watched the four of them move on.

"Trying to be a gentleman now are you?"

Naruto turned his head and focused on the teenager in front of her. She was smirking widely. "You must be Akuha, I presume?"

"Aiya, I'm that famous huh? And you are?" Her smirk did not falter.

"Namikaze Naruto." He answered with a serious expression. His hidden blade was ready to attack or defend anytime now.

Akuha widened her eyes slightly, "Naruto? Are you the one they call The Assassin?"

"I'm not interested in titles."

"Aiya, you're rather famous too, it is my honor to be able to meet you in person, but I'm going to have to kill you. You are a potential threat to the kingdom after all."

"What is your goal?"

"My goal? To prove to that weakling of my sister Ria that I can conquer the whole area more effectively than her, and of course to teach my dear little sister Moka how to hunt down humans and feast on their wonderful blood!" she seemed to be in a state of fantasy while saying it.

"You… You're a sadist."

"Aiya, you don't have to state the obvious. But what are you gonna do about it?"

Naruto swiftly blocked her incoming attack with his hidden blade, taking out a knife at the same time. To Akuha, it seemed as if Naruto took out the knife so quickly that he was able to defend against her attack.

"That's the second time." She smiled. "At least you're not a weakling."

"I take that as a compliment. Black Dragon's Scales!" His skin turned jet black and rock hard with an appearance of scales, it was a precaution against her attacks. He threw the knife at her, took out another six knives and threw them all at once to her. It all occurred in the time span of two seconds. However, none of them landed on the intended target, all seven knives were embedded into the tree trunk ahead.

He rolled forward to avoid an ambush from behind. "Black Dragon's Roar!" A beam of darkness was shot out from his mouth. Thinking that the attack would do her no harm, she attempted to rush through the bolt, but was blown backwards instead. Soon, she started to feel a sense of depression overwhelming her.

'Am I too weak? Am I not good enough for father? Does Moka not trust me? Is that why she called for help? She thinks I'm too weak…' Akuha's mind went blank.

Naruto halted his breathe, he wasn't too sure of the effect of doing that. The Black Dragon's Roar would paralyze one momentarily and at the same time, force their negative emotions to surface. Rage, fear, envy, any such emotions could then be used to his advantage.

However, this was not what he expected, an aura of darkness appeared around her. Her eyes widened and her smile vanished, he instantly regretted doing that. For all he knew, she could pose a much greater threat in this state.

She suddenly appeared in front of him and aimed for his torso, he managed to defend himself from the attack but he realized one thing, her strength was raised drastically. He wasn't sure how much longer he would be able to defend against her attacks.

He quickly leapt backwards, and drew out his tri-prong knives and threw them around the area so that he could teleport from one place to another.

Just after throwing them, he barely had enough time to defend himself with his blades. Then, his left blade, the one he was using to defend himself, snapped in half. The same happened for the right one when he quickly used it to block the subsequent blows.

What followed was a crack to his 'scales' and a spurt of blood from his torso. Her eyes seemed to glow, she seemed to have lost her mind at the sight of blood, all the while muttering 'blood'.

"Shit." He swore and gripped his torso in pain. He teleported to a tree far away and quickly think through how he could fight against her. His hidden blades were gone, his knives weren't effective. The thought of using illusions crossed his mind, but he didn't know if he should risk it.

He ducked to avoid a cut directed to his neck, at the same time he decided to use that as his last resort. For now, he would just use his dragon slayer magic to fight her.

He absorbed the shadows created by the moon to repair the damage done to his 'scales', and decided to go for the offense. "Black Dragon's Spiraling Sphere!" Strands of shadows consolidated into a sphere on his palm. The attack was a close ranged one, it worked best this way because the enemy will be able to feel the full effects of the attack done at point blank range. He leapt forward, predicted that she would be aiming for his throat, ducked and aimed for her torso. While it connected, her aura of darkness seemed to be able to absorb the damage and then his scales was damaged again when he was caught off guard.

'Fuck! That was so not supposed to happen! Shit, she is really a big fucking problem…"

He then pulled the shadow around him and molded them into dozens of shards and launched them all at her. His hypothesis was right, the aura around her acted as a defense mechanism for her. Now one more question remained, is she even aware of what she is doing right now?

Naruto did not have time to wonder. He had to come up with an answer immediately. She seemed to be getting quicker and stronger with each moment that passed.

'Or is it that I'm getting slower and weaker?' He knew rather well that he wasted a large amount of stamina running and later defending her attacks. She seemed to be like a killing machine dead set on eliminating him from this world.

"Shadow Make Lance", he whispered and molded a lance made from the shadows and gripped it tightly, preparing to attack her with it. However, her aura seemed to be able to slice through the shadow lance and cause a rather large crack on his scales.

'Shit, the black dragon's magic doesn't work on her…' Naruto looked down towards the injured site, and considered how much longer will his defense hold. But that little time of inspection was enough for Akuha to cut him on several other areas. A few more cracks followed, and then he realized he was doomed. His scales broke. It fell off him, leaving him vulnerable to her blade.

"You know why I call myself a half dragon slayer?" Naruto asked her, which she seemed to ignore, all the while aiming for him. A simple deduction could be made about her condition: Her subconsciousness took control, she would most likely stop only when he dies or she dies.

"I haven't completed my 'Dragon Slaying Course' with that bastard of a dragon yet, it's just that simple." He continued, trying his best to dodge to his left and right, but still suffering cuts very often. "At the very least, he told me the theory, but I haven't actually tried this out yet."

Finally finding the right timing, Naruto made a jerk to his left and caught her right arm, absorbing the aura of darkness around her to the extent that her aura became only visible. Akuha widened her eyes at her sudden decrease in power.

"I wonder if this works, Dragon Force!" A ray of darkness shot up into the sky, its radius wide till it could be felt by Athena and Mirajane, who were currently having difficulties facing against a formidable opponent as well.

When the darkness cleared, Naruto was clad in reinforced glossy jet-black scales, his eyes slitted red and his claws sharpened. "**Have to thank you for providing me with that boost of darkness aura.**" His voice sounded much deeper and powerful.

This merely served to agitate Akuha further, the fight continued. However, this time round, Naruto was the one who had the upper hand, with improved speed and reflexes, he was able to dodge Akuha's blade, and even snapped her wrist.

"Black Lotus: Black Dragon's Gentle Fist!" With her main attack disabled, Naruto called out one of his ultimate attacks, landing rapid consecutive blows on Akuha. She was blown back by the force of the blow, crashing through over a dozen trees.

He didn't have time to waste, having gotten rid of Akuha, he quickly rushed forward, praying that the others would be safe.

(One hour earlier).

"Damn, we just walked right into enemy territory." Athena cursed when she realized it. The camp site was full of vampire armies.

"Mira-nee…" Elfman shook his sister. He could feel the presence of many others coming from behind.

"Quiet Elfman, I'm thinking of a plan." Mirajane responded.

"Stop moving, stand up and don't try anything." They suddenly heard a voice telling them from behind.

"And if we refuse?" Athena said and turned to face him, and his whole army.

"You die."

"Heh, that was obvious wasn't it?" Athena said to herself before suddenly disappearing in front of their eyes.

One by one they were knocked out, leaving the commander alone.

"How's the situation now?" Athena asked from behind, her claws by his neck.

The commander reached into his pocket fast enough to light the flare. "The situation? More reinforcements." He smirked and that was the last action he would ever perform.

"Shit, didn't expect him to do that, honestly." Athena commented. "Let's get moving."

"Where do you think you are going after coming to our beloved camp site?" A white haired woman suddenly leapt in front of her.

Athena's eyes widened with extreme shock, "You are… Shuzen Kahlua."

"Forgive me for the sin I am about to commit." She said to no one in particular.

**TO BE CONTINUED**

**A/N: Hi everyone, really really sorry for delaying this update because getting this chapter out was very tiring. I find writing fight scenes an extremely challenging task, won't you agree with me? I have to re-write them a few times before I actually think its satisfied, any opinions? Personally, I decided to end it here because of the upcoming fight scene, but be rest assured, I have started working on then next chapter.**

**In any case, hope you enjoyed this chapter. Once again, I apologize for the delay. Do write a review to express your opinions, it gives me motivation to continue.**


End file.
